While one pastor has condemned fidget spinners as "satanic", "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert believes the popular toy can be used to explain the Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
"Unfortunately, the Catholic Church is faced with a crisis, and I don't have to tell you what it is," Colbert, an outspoken Catholic, said on his show Thursday night. "It's fidget spinners, which the Catholic Church is freaking out about. "
He explained that while some priests have been using the toy to explain the Trinity to children, others have taken issue with the demonstration.
"For the not-yet-converted pre-Catholics out there, the Holy Trinity is a central doctrine of Catholicism that God is three persons in one being. There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and if I remember correctly, they're stacked on top of each other in a trench coat so they can see an R-rated movie," Colbert joked. "If you're confused, first of all, welcome to Catholicism - it's a mystery."
While Colbert defended the analogy, he admitted "not everyone is happy about cool priests using fidget spinners."
"This is ridiculous - it's traditional to explain the Holy Trinity with whatever's lying around," Colbert contended. "In the 4th century in Ireland, none other than St. Patrick used a shamrock to explain it - but, I mean, admittedly you've got to drink a lot of Guinness if you want to see it spin."
The comedian added that one may never know if comparing fidget-spinners to the Trinity is right or wrong - unless a "higher authority weighs in."
One of those not happy about the fidget-spinner analogy is Toy Adams, who in a recent op-ed condemned it as "heresy".
"To compare the Trinity to a fidget spinner (as with the shamrock) is to commit the heresy of partialism, for it undercuts the full divinity of each person, so as to indicate that each are only one part of a three part God ... The Trinity is a glorious mystery. Let's let that be enough," Adams said, according to theoutline.com.
In turn, at the Catholic news site Crux, Father Jeffrey F. Kirby offers an argument for the toys: "Believe it or not, the mania among young people these days over the fidget spinner can be an odd but very real call to prayer. As the person sees the need for mental rest ... she can realize there are other broader and deeper resources for such renewal and rejuvenation."
As earlier reported by GH, Juan Mariano Avalos, of the Congregation of the First Christians in Paraguay, condemned the toy for a different reason, claiming it forced children to perform the "sign of the devil" with their hands.
"When they play, they do not realize they are raising their fingers like horns or doing '666', clearly evoking the enemy," Juan Mariano told local media, adding he realized the "true message" when he saw his 7-year-old daughter "giving the devil's signal" with her hands while playing with the spinner.
Fidget spinners first started trending on Google between January 29 and February 4 and peaked on May 6. However, data from Google searches and online sales show its popularity has since been on a rapid decline, Slice Intelligence reports.
