thou shalt not make silly idols

By Todd Stadler · Friday, May 11, 2001 8:59pm

Finally, I'm not sure if it's the Protestant in me, but I have to giggle at these wonderful Catholic sports statues. I suppose it's nice to want to encourage your athletic child to remember his or her savior, but I have to wonder about the scenarios depicted here.

I mean, fine, there's Jesus helping some kid at bat. The catcher, who is apparently an atheist, is doing things on his own, but doesn't seem overly concerned about divine intervention on the behalf of the other team.

But what about the other statues? Are children actually playing against the Son of God? Can they possibly expect to win? For one thing, in the basketball scene, he's quite a bit taller than any of the children trying to block his shot.

And do you really want to encourage your children to think about tackling their savior, as one Satan-loving child is depicted as doing?

Frankly, these statues raise questions more than they encourage a child in the faith. Questions like, "why does Jesus wear sandals when he's running at a track meet or out on the court, yet he wears ice skates when playing hockey?"

I'm guessing that these scenes are taken from some book in the Apocrypha that I just haven't read yet, but still, I have to wonder what the folks at Catholic Supply were thinking. I now see why Muslims so adamantly oppose any physical depiction of God.