In the year 2000, after a very competitive selection process among a number of competing cities, Cleveland was chosen by the site selection committee of the denomination, to be the location of the world-wide gathering of The United Methodist Church. So, in May of that year, United Methodist delegations from Annual Conferences all over the world converged on The Convention Center. The gathering was for a two-week, quadrennial session of the General Conference of the denomination. I was the host committee chairperson.
In addition to the Convention Center, other venues which we arranged for the hosting of this global gathering included The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We had reserved the entire Rock Hall for an evening reception hosting the Council of Bishops of the Church; a group that can often assume an attitude of deserving extraordinary privilege.
The Rock Hall staff was magnificent in working with us to make the evening unique and enjoyable. Among other things, each member of the Council of Bishops had been assigned a special area from which to greet well-wishers from delegations from around the world and their respective Annual or Central Conferences.
One would think that in such a lovely, impressive space and for such a causal, happy time, all would be well. Such would most certainly have been the case were it not for the fact that the Bishops of the Church – which includes a number of exceptional people – as a group too often is prone to being overcome with self-importance.
Too many of the episcopal leaders were not happy with their respective locations within the Rock Hall. Some took great umbrage at the displays of world-famous Rock Hall inductees and their memorabilia which was on permanent display at the locations in which the bishops were one night guests. But, no matter, they were BISHOPS, after all.
Some of the disenchanted, episcopal few decided to rearrange their location in the Rock Hall. With the help of their personal staff people, displays judged offensive by those bishops were covered with hastily procured sheets of paper or otherwise “blocked out” from view as well-wishers made the effort to greet them.
Rock and Roll staff members seeing this behavior were stunned. Various culture war skirmishes occurred.
In the weeks that followed the event I was involved in a number of meetings with Rock Hall staff apologizing for the outrageous actions of some of the Bishops of the Church. One of the Rock Hall leadership’s response was that “of all the world’s people who visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no group has ever been more disrespectful of the venue, its materials, and artifacts as some of the Bishops of The United Methodist Church.”
What is it about religion that too frequently results in many of its followers coming to believe that they are not only justified – but somehow entitled or CALLED – to impose their morality and/or world view on all others who do not share their perspective?
Every generation – and particularly in these divided times in America – religion seems to foster crusaders who see themselves as self-appointed cleansers of the infidel, the non-believer, the apostate dissenters, the spiritually misguided or those thought possessed, and perhaps worst of all, the self-described INDIFFERENT.
In our times, as is so often the case, the religious crusader is also political. He or she will make the self-serving case that the country is better served – even saved from its impending destruction – only when the electorate votes for them and their understanding of God, guns, and family values. Indeed, this is the central affirmation energizing the effort by the religious right (which practices a terribly misunderstood interpretation of what it means to be Christian) to codify in law their prejudices.
The activities of some United Methodist Bishops at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame all those years ago is one thing. But the current war of religious aggression being waged in our various state legislatures, school systems, in the Congress of the United States, and in our nation’s Supreme Court is far more egregious.
Religion, when confused with spiritual vitality, spiritual humility before God, and all of God’s Creation is nothing more than the Great Satan’s dissembling work in the hearts and minds of men and women. Religion, at it’s man-made worst, is nothing more than various hatreds, prejudices, and self-righteousness set to some crusader hymn that results in evoking the tribal tendencies within us to march off on some misguided, unholy war.
It is my prayer that we humble ourselves before The Creator and be far less worshipful of the systematic religious observance practiced in mind-numbing regularity in too many of our churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples. It is my prayer that we be less certain of what is ultimate Truth and INSTEAD committed to the hard work of loving our neighbors as ourselves.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on that night with the bishops now long ago would have been far better for it. Instead, it was just another precursor of the nightmare which is now taking place in the halls of justice, medicine, and government in our land.