Is there a vengeful, box-ticking middle manager in the sky with a cosmic wire on you?
In his Margaret River comp write-up, Longtom drew attention to the outspoken religiosity of some of the surfers on tour.
“There really is a God and Brazilian pro surfers are her Chosen People,” he wrote.
Professional athletes thanking the divine in their victorious interviews is nothing new.
But, does the religiosity on tour reflect the beliefs of average surfers?
According to a 2010 Surfer poll (cited in the EOS entry on religion and surfing), 63% of the magazine’s readers said they believed in God, 15% didn’t, and 22% said they weren’t sure.
Are these numbers still accurate?
More specifically, do they represent the views of BeachGrit’s readership? For a while now I’ve wanted to do for BeachGrit what Chalmers and Bourget did for philosophers, fielding a big poll to figure out their crew’s consensus on certain issues.
This could just be me, but I’ve always thought that surfing and other wilderness/outdoor activities (climbing and sailing, from my own life) point towards there not being any type of caring, watching, intervening supreme being.
Sure there are those brief, transcendent moments of experiencing the sublime — but aren’t they in the minority when compared to times you gotta work hard to escape and survive? There’s no god that’s ever helped me out when I’ve prayed to avoid taking a set on the head. Even less so when I’ve prayed for a good wave to stand up in just the right spot, just for me.
Always seemed like the sets, the storms, the ocean were more out to get me than they were put there as my happy little playground.
To offer some context, I grew up in the American south as the child of some hardline evangelical parents. Taught the literal truth of the Bible, intelligent design in homeschool, hell as a real place, quiverfull, all the rest of it. So I know my background is offering some color to the way I perceive “god.” And the “god” I was taught as a kid is probably way different than what that word means for a lot of other people.
Still, surfing was actually what led me out of all that.
The cavalry never arrived to save me when I was caught inside; I learned to just get on with it and figure it out for myself. The ocean never seemed to give a snot for this human animal when it was bobbing around in the briny. And since abandoning all that supernatural stuff, my life’s been much better, the world a less terrifying place. No more vengeful, box-ticking middle manager in the sky who’s got a cosmic wire on me, listening for my thought-crimes.
Plus, having worked in advertising, it’s hard to think up a better, more profitable business model than organized religion. As Breughel the Elder painted it out in one of his vignettes from Netherlandish Proverbs, be skeptical of anyone knocking on the door with both a flamethrower and also a fire extinguisher.
But I know that’s just me!
I know that religion brings a lot of comfort to a lot of people.
It’s on this note that I’m curious to poll the BeachGrit readers for where you fall on the spectrum of belief.
So: Anyone else find or un-find god in the lineup? Cast your vote here.
**
On a scale from 1 to 7, what do you think?
1: I know that God exists.
2: I can’t know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that He is there.
3: I’m uncertain, but I’m inclined to believe in God.
4: Who’s to say? Could be yes, could be no. It’s 50-50.
5: I don’t know whether a god exists, but I’m pretty skeptical.
6: I can’t know for certain, but it’s improbable that a god or gods exist; I live under the assumption that there isn’t anything supernatural out there.
7: I know that there are no gods or supernatural things.
Until now I never new the word or world of ‘religiosity’ existed. So a trip over to Wiki presented this definition: Religiosity is difficult to define, but different scholars have seen this concept as broadly about religious orientations and involvement. It includes experiential, ritualistic, ideological, intellectual, consequential, creedal, communal, doctrinal, moral, and cultural dimensions.
How ironic this description is. I think now we can move forward with a new question: Is surfing a sport or a religiosity.
For reference: https://www.youtube.com/wat…
It’s ok mate i’m gonna cut you some slack because we both know you don’t really mean any of that but it offends your sensibilities to answer truthfully.
No one really blames children for getting Leukaemia. No one really blames disabled kids for being born with disabilities. No one really blames those innocent people who went to work in the Twin Towers. I could go on and on with this but you get my point.
Even though “God works in Mysterious ways” is a convenient get out of jail free card, at least it’s logically consistent. So too with “The Devil made me do it”.
Blaming any misfortune solely on choices made by the individual, well that’s a pretty ridiculous notion to hold. Like I said, I’ll cut you some slack.
This monkey’s gone to heaven.
And what about the situations people didn’t put themselves in like earthquakes, volcanoes, struck by lightning etc.
Is that just god acting in mysterious ways again, or the devil sneaking around while god’s not looking?
Such a tiresome question.
Does pro surfing have any apostates?
Felt like a vengeful, box-ticking middle manager taking this box-ticking quiz.
Btw, does Satan count as a god?
What about the all-encompassing Gaya? Chaos theory? Nietzsches super-man? Higgs boson?
“Wherever the people do not believe in something beyond the world, they will worship the world. But above all, they will worship the strongest thing in the world.” -GKC
“In the Kingdom of Man, the seas are ribboned with plastic, the forests are burning, the cities bulge with billionaires and tented camps, and still we kneel before the idol of the great god Economy as it grows and grows like a cancer cell. And what if this ancient faith is not an obstacle after all, but a way through? As we see the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, of choosing power over humility, separation over communion, the stakes become clearer each day. Surrender or rebellion; sacrifice or conquest; death of the self or triumph of the will; the Cross or the machine. We have always been offered the same choice. The gate is strait and the way is narrow and maybe we will always fail to walk it. But is there any other road that leads home?” – P. Kingsnorth
god creates dinosaurs god destroys dinosaurs, god creates man man destroys god, man creates dinosaurs.
NonJohn has prayed to God once or twice when caught inside or whilst pinned to rocks underwater… NonJohn sincerely promised to do better.
I have never or will ever write an article for any publication.
“Be skeptical of anyone who has worked in advertising.” – Someone’s Old Man
The 1-7 scale has completely thrown me. 1-5 I get. 1-10 yep. But 1-7…. just woahhhh
Like Jesse Ventura said – ‘Religion is a crutch for the weak minded’
So many people claim the Bible, but very few live it. “Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are not like him.”
These ‘Christians’ were the force behind electing the most un-Christian person possible to the most powerful position in the world. It’s laughable.
Don’t get me started on the Catholic church where a shit ton of priests diddled little boys and got away with it.
Fuck your religion.
I can’t answer 7, only because you’ve conflated god with the supernatural.
God (or the Gods) are not supernatural, they are fairy tales. Stories made up to control people. Supernatural refers more to things people have experienced but cannot explain yet.
Now, I’m all for spirituality and faith – let people believe what they want if it makes them happy and hurts nobody else – but acting like a complete cunt because some 2000 year old book told you to makes you worse than dogshit.
Classic bait and switch…poor form
God was invented by cavemen to explain thunder. No one who is dead knows they were alive. No one.
For starters: WTF, did I accidentally log on to the Christian Science Monitor? Is this some sort of post apocalyptic ‘woke’ nightmare that I’ve awaken from after surviving 14 months of Covid and the subsequent lockdowns? Say it isn’t so! Tell me that I can still log on to beach grit and still find a place where sanity prevails! (Did I get that wrong? Should it read ‘still find a place where insanity prevails?’). Oh, fuck, now I’m confused…. Whatever!
God is Santa for adults. I didn’t read anything after the first two paragraphs.
I know some so called religious surfers an as far as I can see most of em think cocaine is a gift from god.
Well…. satan didn’t create any objects on earth, god creates only things that are good, cocaine is an earthly object, therefore cocaine is created by god and its damn gooood. Call me fucken Augustine.
Sorry – just such a tiresome question.