Religion

rug

(82,333 posts) Fri Aug 5, 2016, 09:16 PM Aug 2016

Games have religious roots

Ancient and modern versions both show links to the spiritual

Religion News Service
Published 5:23 pm, Friday, August 5, 2016

The XXXI Olympic Games, the 16-day athletic love-fest that kicked off Friday in Rio de Janeiro, are a secular endeavor featuring more fanfare than faith, more spectacle than spirit.

But it was not always so.

The Olympics — both the long-gone ancient version and the modern version unspooling this month — have deep religious and spiritual roots, which, some scholars say, are in jeopardy as every host city tries to go bigger, better and more memorable than the last.

"The Olympic Games is the international sports event because of the diversity of the sports, the number of faiths represented, the number of countries participating," said Anthony Moretti, an associate professor of communication at Robert Morris University who has written about the Olympic as a form of civic religion.

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Games-have-religious-roots-9125532.php

5 replies

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Games have religious roots (Original Post) rug Aug 2016 OP

Oh no, the dreaded "r" word. And in the religion group! guillaumeb Aug 2016 #1

Well, here's a molecule then. rug Aug 2016 #2

Far beyond my science memory. guillaumeb Aug 2016 #3

They named it after this: rug Aug 2016 #4

Thing is, Olympiadane isn't quite a compound in the usual sense of the word. Igel Aug 2016 #5

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)

1. Oh no, the dreaded "r" word. And in the religion group!

Reply to rug (Original post)

Fri Aug 5, 2016, 09:18 PM

Aug 2016

The official civic religion in the US is making money.

rug

(82,333 posts)

2. Well, here's a molecule then.

Reply to guillaumeb (Reply #1)

Fri Aug 5, 2016, 09:36 PM

Aug 2016

Olympiadane.

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)

3. Far beyond my science memory.

Reply to rug (Reply #2)

Fri Aug 5, 2016, 09:40 PM

Aug 2016

rug

(82,333 posts)

4. They named it after this:

Reply to guillaumeb (Reply #3)

Fri Aug 5, 2016, 09:59 PM

Aug 2016

CAPPING a decade of intense research, a team of British chemists has created a molecule consisting of five interlocked rings of atoms, a tiny replica of the symbol of the Olympic games. The molecule is probably useless in itself, but the techniques devised to create it may shed light on the process by which life arose from relatively simple chemicals.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/30/science/chemists-make-rings-of-interlocked-atoms-a-clue-to-life-s-origin.html

That last sentence sounds like a unkind description of religion.

Igel

(35,320 posts)

5. Thing is, Olympiadane isn't quite a compound in the usual sense of the word.

Reply to guillaumeb (Reply #3)

Sat Aug 6, 2016, 04:03 PM

Aug 2016

It's 5 molecules with bonds passing through rings in each other, like the Olympic symbol, so they're mechanically but not chemically connected. Sort of like clathrates are "compounds" with noble gases in them, when the noble gas hasn't reacted with any other element but is just in a cage.

Try Olympicene, for a real compound:

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