After a pair of sneakers with a “Satanic” design sold out in minutes, in spite of costing over $1,000, apparently there was too much temptation to produce something similar.
But a Catholic exorcist says it’s not worth it to put your soul at risk.
A Converse shoe with a pentagram design could lead to a fascination with the occult, says exorcist Fr. Vincent Lampert.
Indeed, the shoe sold out soon after its July 27 debut. Named TURBODRK Chuck 70, it is the work of fashion designer Rick Owens in partnership with Converse. The design contains an upside-down pentagram on both the sole and the heel of the shoe — a satanic symbol.
Converse’s Instagram account carried a post in which Owens is quoted as saying he had used the pentagram in fashion “for a long time because obviously, it has adolescent occult associations.” He said it suggests a “pursuit of sensation” and the “pursuit of pleasure.”
But in an interview with Catholic News Agency, Fr. Lampert warned that embracing the symbol in fashion design could foster a harmful introduction to the occult.
“At first glance one might think that a pentagram on a sneaker may seem to be nothing but harmless fun,” Fr. Lampert said. “We may think of it as nothing more than some form of entertainment but the devil can use this interest in things associated with the occult as an entry point to enter a person’s life.”
Lampert told CNA that seeing the pentagram on the sneaker could lead to greater curiosity about the demonic world, leading to a downward spiral in the person’s life.
“Fascination with the evil one” is not what should be fostered, the priest said. Instead, society should be promoting that the human person is created in the image and likeness of God and has the innate desire for God, he said.
The new shoe called to mind another controversy earlier this year, when rapper Lil Nas X began selling modified Nike Air Max 97s that had “Luke 10:18” stitched on them — a reference to Luke 10:18, in which Jesus says, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.” Decorated with a bronze pentagram pendant and a drop of human blood, they became known as “Satan shoes.” Priced at $1,018, they sold out in less than a minute.
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