Sunday, February 04, 2007
On The Seventh Day, God Punted
A few weeks back, Ragged Thots made this observation:
In a related note, the NFL also gave notice of its intent to sue the Catholic Church on the grounds that the phrase, "Immaculate Conception," implicitly infringed on a major aspect of the league's intellectual property.
Oh well, remember to fill the collection plate in your respective houses of worship as the service begins at around 6:20 this evening.
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Satellite distribution of NFL games have turned sports bars into a secular polytheistic church-going experience for many Americans on Sunday: The games are the preachers; the fans are the congregation; the bartenders are the acolytes: Everyone gathers there to "worship" their preferred deity. Would this communal experience continue if the NFL "released" rights to all games to platforms other than DirecTV?Geez, not enough that the NFL had basically sacked organized religion on Sundays -- just as it crushed the other previous national pastime -- now, it has to do a victory dance in the endzone to rub religion's nose in it:
Farmland Friends on Friday joined churches nationwide in abruptly canceling its Super Bowl party for fear of violating a federal copyright law that prohibits public venues from showing NFL games on big-screen TVs.Forget about church-state barriers -- the state says a place that serves alcohol of all sorts has greater power on Sundays than some place that only serves a glass of wine (if that)!
Sports bars are specifically exempted. Churches are not.
The law has been widely ignored for years. Churches routinely draw hundreds of fans to annual Super Bowl parties; some denominations openly use the events as tools for evangelism. The Christian magazine Sports Spectrum even markets a Super Bowl party kit for churches. This year, however, a celebration sponsored by Falls Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis caught the attention of a National Football League attorney, Rachel L. Margolies.
In a related note, the NFL also gave notice of its intent to sue the Catholic Church on the grounds that the phrase, "Immaculate Conception," implicitly infringed on a major aspect of the league's intellectual property.
Oh well, remember to fill the collection plate in your respective houses of worship as the service begins at around 6:20 this evening.
