When faith is tested in a ring, after a prayer, with simulated violence, believers appear to see the unleashed spectacle of a Catholic church.
Fewer and fewer believers appeared at Mass, so a church in northern England made the unthinkable. Now there is Shipleyevery month, wrestling events in a strange combination of faith with action and violence. It all started when the 37 -year -old Christian Gareth Thompson noticed a connection between the two themes, which apparently are not so distant.
“If we boil down to the basics, it’s good against evil,” he told. “When I became a Christian, I started to see the world of wrestling through a Christian lens. I started to see David and Goliath. I started to see Cain and Abel. I began to see Esau seeing his inheritance to be stolen. And I thought, ‘We could tell these stories.’ ”
Events attract about 200 people Of all the social strata – families, teenagers and longtime fans of the wrestling – who gather under the Church’s vaulted ceiling for “fucking” nights and blows on the body, headers and prayers.
Prior to the start of the fighting, participants hear a brief homily and participate in a prayer. Then the church turns into a noisy arena where foam fingers wave and fans scream encouraging the fighters.
Although only a few wrestling fans became church regular goers, the impact has been tangible: in the first year, thirty baptisms were performed.
“I’m here mainly for the wrestling,” said Liam Ledger, 33, who also fights – but it’s a bit “surreal” when baptisms are made between fighting.
“I invite my opponent to pray with me before the fighting,” said female champion Kiara.
“People say, ‘Oh, wrestling and Christianity are two false things in a false world of their own existence,” Thompson believes. “If they do not believe it, of course they will think that. But my personal experience of my Christian faith is that it is alive and alive, and is true. The world of wrestling, if we really believe in him, believe it is true and we can suspend our disbelief.
