Silly Gods & Cool Insults

Our silly gods and American idols: a great article by Rod Dreher at the Jewish World Review. In it, he does the intellectual version of body slam on Bill Maher, the goofy late night guy who mocks religion and had that anti-religious documentary out last year.

Maher, who didn't win an Oscar the other night, touched this off by declaring, "I know, it's a touchy subject. But someday, we all have to confront the notion that our silly gods cost the world too greatly." Dreher responds:

Too right! Our silly gods have plainly taken a lot out of humanity's hide, as a quick tour of the popular pantheon will attest.

The god of money has been a particularly effective smiter of our hopes and dreams. His cultic devotees performed their rituals in the towering cathedrals of Wall Street, his evangelists carried the Go$pel to the masses through the media, and his Prophet, Alan Greenspan, commanded the devotion of the princes in the capital city and beyond. We believed the Oracle of the Federal Reserve had unlocked the secret of permanent prosperity by sacralizing the market, a mystery religion whose miracles were not to be questioned by mere mortals.

When the Prophet finally admitted last October that he had found "a flaw in the model" - that markets are made up of humans, who suffer from a flawed nature — the time to save ourselves from the consequences of idol worship had long passed. Greenspan the Once-Great: Look on his works, ye Mighty, and despair.

The god of hedonism, in whose service the priapic Maher qualifies as a snake-handling holy roller, has exacted a painful tribute as well. How has hedonism's first commandment — "If it feels good, do it" — worked out for us?

You owe it to yourself to read the whole thing.

By the way (I had to look this up), "priapic" is another word for "phallic." What a cool insult!