More on the NASCAR prayer featured in Boogety, Boogety, Boogety , posted yesterday: a report titled Pastor Defends Calling Wife Smokin Hot Before NASCAR Race . The significant line:
I want to get somebodys attention, so thats been our desire every time weve been up there, to try to make an impact on the fans and give them something theyll remember, and maybe theyll go home on a Friday night or a Saturday night and say, ‘Maybe I ought to get up and go to church in the morning,’” Nelms said.
As usual, evangelism is the excuse. It’s not a very good one. As a friend pointed out, the parts of the crowd we saw, few members of which were likely to come from liturgical churches, seemed uncomfortablethe camera showed a lot of sheepish smilesthough the line about his wife did get a small roar from part of the crowd.
The main effect of such shenanigans isn’t to make people think “He prays for Toyotas and Goodyear tires and his smokin’ hot wife, so I’m going to church.” It’s to make religion look trivial and cute and a kind of optional adjunct to real life, and not nearly so serious as, say, NASCAR racing.