Have a watch of this clip from bloggingheads.tv where Gary Laderman and Anthea Butler are discussing whether movies are the sacred texts of our time.

Gary is co-editor and co-director of Religion Dispatches and Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Religion at Emory University.  Anthea is associate professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania.

I thought it was really interesting – and very well observed by both Gary and Anthea.

The only thing to remember is that they are not discussing from a Christian perspective – but as observers of religion and religious practice in general. Therefore, they seem to promote a view that all religion is based on myth and that celebrity worship is just the latest guise of religious experience – the applauding of our ‘chosen ones’!

My view, very much influenced by Mark Sayers, would be that the removal of God as ‘sacred’ from our culture has left a hole that is being filled by the worship of those amongst us that are lauded as the most ‘sexy’, ‘cool’ and ‘glamorous’.

But hey, what do I know?

If you want to hear the whole conversation between Gary and Anthea then link here.

Also, you can view the various parts of the discussion at the Religious Dispatches website here.