WOW! GET A LOAD OF THIS

By Edwin Cooney

One of the perks of writing a column is the good fortune of having readers who can occasionally boggle my mind.

A few days ago, one of you sent me the following observation by the late professor, novelist and philosopher David Foster Wallace. During a 2005 commencement address to the graduates of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, he asserted:

“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”

As one who struggles with what often seems to me to be the arrogance of religion (although I am a believer), I was amazed at Professor Wallace’s contention that nonbelievers also worship — so, I went to the dictionary for a definition of the word worship.

Worship, used as a noun, means “to offer reverence, honor and homage to be paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.”

Next, I looked up the word sacred and, although sacredness is generally connected to religious worship, one definition was “a reverent dedication to a person, cause or practice”. Hence, worship is not invariably linked or necessarily relevant only to one’s religious faith.

David Foster Wallace goes on to say that worship of anything except a religion or principle will ultimately devour us. He asserts that if we worship money we’ll never have enough of it. If we worship our body, we’ll never be satisfied with it. Foster’s assertion that everyone, absolutely everyone, worships something is pretty compelling to this observer.

So, some of the questions for you and me are:

What do we worship and what does worshiping do for us? Is what we’re worshiping a positive force in our lives?

Even more intriguing to this observer is the question:

Might we not always realize what we worship or even when we’re worshiping? (I’m drawing a distinction here between worshiping and praying. Certainly, prayer is an act of worship.)

A few years ago, my very favorite pastor, the Reverend Mark Bollwinkel, agreed with me that I needed to decide if my fascination with American history, politics, and presidents was my personal substitute for religious worship. Was I worshiping political leaders? The thought made me uncomfortable then and still does.

Then there is the question of excessive nationalism or, if you prefer, patriotism. Is there not a distinction between loving one’s country and heaping excessive adoration or worship on it? If we view America as uncritically as we do God, is that not tantamount to national worship? Is national worship healthy? If you believe, as I do, that there is life after death, keep in mind that Heaven exists for people rather than nations. You may well discover your worst enemy dwelling within those “pearly gates,” but search as you may, you won’t come across “America the Beautiful” in “the great beyond.”

Finally, we often find ourselves granting to entertainers, especially singers, actors and sports heroes, a status pretty close to earthly deity. We even have a term for it: we call it hero worship. (I know there are some nasty A’s, Giants, or, even worse, Dodgers or Pirates fans out there who might suggest that I worship the New York Yankees, but that’s absurd, of course. Just because I…never mind!)

The most fascinating aspect of Professor Wallace’s observation is that atheists worship.

One of my smartest and closest friends, an agnostic, has insisted time and time again that since we can’t prove that God exists, God’s existence is unlikely. As he sees it, the worship of God is silly. Unless you can prove that something exists, it’s misleading and even unkind to insist that it does exist. As I see it, my friend is pretty close to being a disciple of science and logic. Is it possible that he “worships” science? He certainly has the same reverent regard for science as many of my other friends have for their religious faith.

If David Foster Wallace is right that all of us worship, he may well have put his finger on humanity’s salvation. Of course, if we worship in unhealthy anger, we are likely to destroy ourselves. However, I believe that most people all over the world worship in order to realize the benefits of the most powerful force on this earth. That force can be found in our schools, our games and entertainment, and, most definitely, in the wonders of science.

Get a load of worship’s most blessed gift -- the power of love.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY