NAS Daily was here in Armenia recently, so people I know are sharing a lot of his past and present videos. I have watched a few. They are amusing and interesting, but what rubs me the wrong way about them is the idea that anything can be done in one minute that isn't inherently superficial.
Of course it is easy to show some video footage and say a few words in one minute and convince people of something that they might already be sympathetic towards or that they haven't really thought about before. That is interesting, but it is still superficial and can only ever touch the surface of any topic.
One of the videos I watched was questioning why so much money was, and sometime is still, spent on religious buildings. "Why isn't the money just given to the poor? That is what God would really want," is the strawman argument that is posed.
I won't argue against God wanting us to help the poor, nor will I argue that many great religious buildings were build using methods or funds that are less than nobel. I will however question his easy dismissal of the usefulness of awesome religious buildings. And I would also like to ask these questions that I think are related: Why do we spend money on fine arts including museums, music and theater? Why do we spend so much money on sports stadiums? Why do we spend so much money on the internet? And why do we think nothing of so much money being spent on space exploration?
To examine wider issue, I would first ask what the point of fine art and art museums are. This includes asking what the point of productions of symphonies, operas, ballets or plays in general is. These things all try to inspire emotion and thought in people, ideally they bring them to epiphanies or an experience of awe. These are important things for humans to experience.
The experience of being challenged or inspired intellectually and emotionally is worth the expense of fine art. And having a common collection of works or types of works helps to create a shared experience which adds to having a common culture and worldview. This is, or at least used to be, the main idea behind literature and arts education.
Religious buildings were created to be awesome, to inspire awe. They bring art and beauty to people, even the common people, who back then would not have access to fine arts in other ways. (Remember, museums with public access are a relatively modern creation, and in many undeveloped countries are still not a reality.) A church was supposed to inspire awe which would strengthen belief and dedication to the religion, to the message of god. The art would also try to convey the ideas and stories of the religion. This was very important back when most people were not literate. People that are not inspired to believe, will not be likely to follow a requests or commands that a god makes of his followers to help the poor. It doesn't matter how charitable or giving a god or his commands are, if people don't understand or believe, they won't follow them. Religious buildings and even religious art were made to inspire and shape people, to create unity and dedication. If the god they inspired people to believe in was a caring and compassionate one, the people should be more caring and compassionate. But if the people are not inspired to believe in that god, then it doesn't matter how caring or compassionate that god is.
Stadiums now are seen mostly as revenue streams, but that is because we tend to see things in terms of money first and foremost these days. But they do have a deeper purpose, or they did and still can. Sports teams were seen as a way to strengthen community and commonality, and a stadium was the place people would gather to experience that first hand. I won't argue that mega-sized sports stadiums are worth the cost these days because I don't think they are. But in a less commercialized sporting environment, sports can be a strong unifying force for a community, nation or people. We can still see that with schools' sports teams and even in international competitions like the Olympics and World Cup... sometimes.
The internet is something we spend a lot of money on these days. The idea is that information is supposed to make us better and to unite us. However, that is not always the case. I don't want to get into it in detail here, but the idea that simple access to information can bring us together is based on a superficial (even outright faulty) conception of what information, knowledge and truth are. I think that without a better understanding of what information really is, spending so much money on the internet, especially in schools, is worse-- is more of a waste-- than all the money spent on religious buildings and sports stadiums, especially those that missed the point of unifying people.
In a way, prayer is like the internet: prayer in general is like the internet. It is how you pray and what you pray for that is most important, not that you pray. In the same way, it is how you use the internet and what you use it for that makes the internet important and makes the difference between it being useful or not.
Praying for wealth or power, or just to be right and to be certain about being right, is not really helpful to the person praying or the people around them. The most those sorts of prayers can do is give the people praying some hope that can reenforce their dedication or determination to a cause, ideas or goals. But if that goal is selfish and/or their work ethic is weak, the prayers can do more harm than good.
Praying for understanding, for wisdom, for Grace or things like that is helpful. They challenge the person praying to keep struggling, searching and growing. Those types of prayers help the person person praying to accept what they can't change. They help them become a better person and a person that can get along better with others in a meaningful way.
Praying for certainty, for wealth or other things like that is just like using the internet to find what you already believe is rigth, or to use it to promote what you think is right while ignoring everything else out there. We far too often use the internet in a superficial and selfish way, and it doesn't help us grow or learn, nor does it help those around us. (This too is connected to a superficial idea of information, knowledge and truth.)
And now people are talking about the multi-million dollar satellite being sent to the sun or the possible mission to explore the water under the Martian ice cap. Whatever is discovered will have little impact on the everyday lives of the average human, but we are excited about it and don't tend to count or scrutinize the cost. It will boost faith in science and technology, which are the religions of the day. But because science and technology are believed in, few will question the cost of these missions like they now question the cost of religious buildings.
NAS daily's videos are superficial and don't really help bring people to deep thought or to come together in ways they wouldn't already. That is not to say they are bad, but they are entertainment and nothing more. They are like saying a few prayers that you know by heart and asking for some thing you want for yourself on your terms without thinking about anything deeper. Like praying without thinking about the impact on others, the meaning and history of the words in the prayer. It is like spending millions on a stadium, a rocket or a church without thinking about or trying to emphasize the deeper impact that those things can and should have. He can start a conversation, but he can really inform people, and shouldn't really convince them.
