Expand Quote
When I first became an atheist pros who were religious and brought it in to skateboarding bothered me a lot.
As I've gotten older, it doesn't really bother me as long as they aren't pushing it on anyone. That's where it really starts to get dangerous.
The ones that are truly awful are the ones who are super quiet about their religion, but are trying hard to get people into their religion. That's why people like Kyro bug me way more than Hosoi or Thomas.
I’m not a Kyro fan, but in the interest of fairness, has he ever talked about Scientology in his skateboard stuff?
While Jamie definitely has had heavy religious graphics on his boards, angg do I think one of his video parts ends with a cross on the screen.
That's the problem he's not open about it. If you look at what position he holds in the church, he's the PES (Public Executive Secretary) of San Francisco. That position is involved in getting new people into Scientology. There's no way he holds that position and doesn't have procuring new people for Scientology as an ulterior motive. He may not be going after the public at large, but that would make sense since the public at large has rejected Scientology. My guess is that he's going after the young impressionable skaters on his channel and skaters that he directly interacts with at parks.
A lot of the Braille brand has Scientologists involved, and it really seems like a marketing tool for Scientology.
The thing that bothers me is when people use skateboarding as a vehicle to further their evangelicism. It's just as cynical and crass as when some big company or fashion house slaps someone doing an ollie in a bowl in an anti depressant ad or covers some blank Chinese complete with a bunch of Louis Vuitton logos, except it tends to come with a side of puritanical beliefs about morality, sexuality and supremacy over non believers
That's basically how I look at it. As long as they aren't being evangelical about their religion and it's only influencing their graphics and such, I really don't care if they incorporate their religion into their skateboarding stuff. I haven't seen that too much from the guys who do it, but maybe it's because I don't pay much attention.