If you happen to be in Brazil and have no plans this weekend, you can head on down to the Reborn in Christ Church to play some popular video games and get your groove on to the DJ’s funky hip-hop mixes. If you’re feeling really wild, you can even get a ‘religious-themed’ tattoo!

The New York Times featured an article on Sept. 14 entitled ‘Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian Churches’ about how the evangelical churches in Brazil are using ploys, such as hip-hop music and free tattoos, to attract the younger crowd.

Written by Alexei Barrionuevo, the article quotes Pastor Dogao Meira, 26, who reasoned, ‘Here they [the youth] enter the church, sometimes to see a fight competition, they receive the word of Jesus Christ, and they begin a transformation. They will get off drugs, start to respect their parents and start to cure the illnesses of the soul, like anxiety, depression, drugs and alcohol, prostitution.’

Yes, he said ‘fight competition.’ During their weekly ‘fight nights,’ you’ll get to see Pastor Meira pin his opponent in an arm lock. Afterwards, his fight trainer and fellow pastor, Mazola Maffei, will most likely deliver a sermon on the importance of the connection between sports and spirituality.

In the article Barrioneuvo quoted Maffei saying, ‘You need to practice the sport of spirituality more. You need to fight for your life, for your dreams and ideals.’ How inspiring. Except I’m pretty sure that when people say ‘fight for your life,’ they mean work hard and not literally beat up a fellow child of God.

Seeing a fight does not equal soul salvation. Actually it completely defeats the purpose of ‘Love thy neighbor,’ ‘Help all’ and basically every other lesson the Christian faith preaches. This ‘have the youth fight each other in order to discover Jesus Christ’ belief does not bode well with me.

The whole religious tattoo ordeal annoys me more than anything else. Take the movie, ‘Boondock Saints;’ they had tons of killer (literally) religious tattoos, but that didn’t stop them from murdering people, even if it was for the greater good. I’d feel more badass if I had ‘Jesus is my savior’ stamped across my back.

Suresh Thiagarajan, of the Evangelical Christian Ministries here at Syracuse University, certainly does not agree with the tattoo parlors.

‘If you’ve got something to share, each individual needs to make the choice themselves,’ he said.

He compared the events in Brazil to the student activities’ fair that took place on the quad yesterday.

‘It’s open form, the clubs are there and available for the students to ask questions, but ultimately the student decides on their own.’

I bet all those clubs would have attracted a lot more students if they had breakdance competitions or hookah lounges set up in front of their tables.

Now I am the number one believer in the whole ‘kick back, relax, just live life’ lifestyle. But if pastors and reverends start sending out invitations to discos and keggers, who knows what other shenanigans could follow. Soon enough, this Reborn in Christ Church could start handing out tequila shots and bags of weed. Then we’ll finally be able to witness pigs fly (in which case swine flu could really become an issue.)

I’m not saying religion can’t be fun. I would love to visit the church featured in the movie ‘Borat,’ and on my list of things to do before I die, I have ‘visit a Southern gospel church’ in my top 30. Dancing in the aisles, clapping, singing Hallelujah while connecting with your family, friends and neighbors through song, that’s good religious fun right there. But throw in video games, flashing lights, fighting and hot dog vendors, and you’ve just taken the wrong turn down a one-way street.

Father Linus DeSantis, of the St. Thomas More Campus Ministry (Alibrandi Catholic Center), said, ‘It’s just immediate gratification, all about the here and now. There is no substance. I believe people of all faiths should have value. Religion is a system of values, not just fun and games.’

That really is what this is all about, just a big show. Father Linus added, ‘It’s bogus. These people need to ask themselves, ‘Where does it stand in relation to my principals?’ ‘Do I fall prey to this or do I say I don’t need this?”

They don’t need this, and if they do they can go somewhere other than a church. Religion is one of the few remaining aspects of society that hasn’t been tainted by modern-day pop culture. Trying to create a ‘hip’ image is a waste of time, resources and doesn’t convey any kind of spiritual message. They may say they’re ‘reaching out to the youth,’ but theses evangelical ‘partiers’ are simply distorting the importance of faith.

Lauren Tousignant is a sophomore communications and rhetorical studies major. She is the opinion editor where her columns appear weekly. She can be reached at letousig@syr.edu.

Published on September 16, 2009 at 12:00 pm