Posted on 12/30/2004 1:56:23 PM PST by Clive
About three months before the release of Mel Gibson's hugely popular and controversial film, The Passion of the Christ, a new Beatles album hit the street.
Let It Be Naked was, of course, a reissue; but unlike so much of the Fab Four material released during the previous decade, it was an important album. Let It Be might not have been the best of the mature Beatles, but the unadulterated version -- stripped of Phil Spector's baroque production and free of the shameless clunkers (mostly from McCartney) that spoil more recognized classics like The White Album and Abbey Road -- stands up, track for track, as a remarkably solid listening experience.
Yet the album came and went with barely a buzz. The dream, alas, was most definitely over.
By contrast, Gibson's movie about the last hours of Jesus sent shockwaves around the world. Even measured in pop culture terms, there was no question that Jesus was far, far more popular than the Beatles -- or any passing pop fancy, for that matter (A website two years ago declared Jesus "now more popular" than the Beatles based on their respective number of Google hits).
But 2004 also showed how wrong John Lennon was about Christianity itself when he made that infamous claim in a March 1966 interview with the London Evening Standard.
"Christianity will go," Lennon said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now ..."
How wrong could one man be?
Christianity will go? Less than 40 years later, just look at the prominent, perhaps pivotal role the candidates' espoused Christian faith and adherence to Christian values played in the U.S. presidential election campaign. And look who won.
"President Bush has been called the most openly religious president in modern history," said Raney Aronson, producer of a PBS Frontline report called The Jesus Factor, which chronicled George W. Bush's "personal journey" as a born-again Christian and examined the immense political influence of the more than 70 million evangelical Christians in the United States.
Even in Canada, where secular liberalism has ruled for decades, 2004 has seen an unprecedented outpouring of scriptural argument as part of the national debate over same-sex marriage. Never in recent history have so many Canadians publicly stated their unswerving commitment to Christian principles.
And, less significantly but as part of the same trend, for the past weeks in both countries pundits have been trying to one-up each other in condemning politically correct attempts to substitute "holiday" for good old-fashioned Christmas. (My favourite had to be Ezra Levant's column which began, "Allow me to be the first Jew to say to you 'Merry Christmas'.")
Part of this new, vocal Christianity is undoubtedly a reaction to the rhetorical zealotry -- and actual threats -- of Islamic extremists. And part of it has to be a reaction to the increasingly shallow popular culture that surrounds us.
In trying to live down his notorious remark, Lennon later conceded, "I should have said television was more popular than Jesus, then I might have got away with it ..."
Lennon was hardly being an iconoclast when he pronounced Christianity moribund -- in England the comments went unnoticed; it wasn't until they were reprinted out of context in the U.S. that all hell broke loose. Lennon knew that the steady drift of Western art and thought during the first half of the 20th century was toward rationalism, and that spirituality was being rediscovered in Buddhism and other world views "untainted" by Christian concepts.
By the 1960s even popular entertainment was confidently reflecting Nietzsche's "God is dead" stance. It seemed absolutely conceivable that Christianity would "vanish and shrink."
It just wasn't God's plan, that's all.
In the same interview, Lennon also said, "Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
Considering the views held by so many self-described Christians -- whether on the war in Iraq or same-sex marriage -- one might argue that Lennon's analysis was philosophically quite valid, even if he was way off the beam historically.
But that, as they say, is another column entirely.
-
Arrogance and liberalism go hand in hand.
Islam probably continues to grow faster than any other religion - unfortunately.
Documented where?
Not in this country or Israel. ISLAM will flourish in countries that are secular. ISLAM would be kicked to the curb in most american cities.
True. Most black Muslims, for example, are treated as eccentrics, sometimes with scorn, by black Christians.
Amen.
I like to think that Lennon would have found the Truth in time
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But will anyone make a great movie about you 2,000 years from now?
Actually Mormonism is the fastest growing.
the only reason islam is growing faster than christianity is because their birthrates are 10 times that of christians. islam is not spreading, its multiplying.
The fastest growing religion is Christianity according to an author I saw on Fox. The growth is huge in Africa and Asia. He said that the much maligned missionaries planted seeds that flourish today.
Sorry ,don't remember his name but he wrote a book about it.
God is in charge.
As noted by others, this may or may not be the case when compared to the growth of Christianity. But consider this -- Islam today grows mostly by way of fear, oppression, and violence, while Christianity today grows almost entirely by way of love, kindness, and sharing of the Gospel (and if it's not, it's not real Christianity anyway).
Yes, I know people can cite countless examples of horrible things in the history of the Christian church, but I specifically said "Christianity today", not to be confused with people in the past doing terrible things falsely "in the name of Christ".
Lennon unfortunately was correct about England, where he was speaking.
A shame that I've encountered probably 10 times this amount chastising Christianity at every opportunity they can. Especially amongst the twentysomething crowd. The new attack on Christianity consists mostly of ridicule. I know, I get ridiculed all the time.
I don't believe that. I think Islam is a religion in it's death throes and I think it will vanish, the more they get exposed to western culture, the more the internet grows. The zealots will come crawling out of the woodwork, but increasingly, people are seeing the writing on the wall for Islam and it's principles. How can one argue against what is right in front of our eyes - the complete and utter failure that is the Islamic civilisation - economically, socially, and culturally. A group of people committed to blowing each other up, be it suicide bombing or shiite vs. Sunni, a group that would make an enemy of the entire world, is doomed - as my friend so rightly puts it - Darwinism hard at work.
Maybe you (and/or others) can help me with what was so great about the movie since it didn't focus on what Jesus taught nor did it focus on his life. Instead, if memory serves, it was a multi-hour film depicting a severe beating and the death of Jesus.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.