This book explores the ways in which religion is observed performed and organised in
skateboard culture. Drawing on scholarship from the sociology of religion and the cultural
politics of lifestyle sports this work combines ethnographic research with media analysis to
argue that the rituals of skateboarding provide participants with a rich cultural canvas for
emotional and spiritual engagement. Paul O'Connor contends that religious identification in
skateboarding is set to increase as participants pursue ways to both control and engage
meaningfully with an activity that has become an increasingly mainstream and institutionalised
sport. Religion is explored through the themes of myth celebrity iconography pilgrimage
evangelism cults and self-help.
