The Making of Meaning is a Serious Business
Is Religious fundamentalism a Product of the Market Place?"The making of meaning is a serious business"In times of great population shifts, occupational and geographical mobility and rapid cultural changes; religion reinvents itself in response to its social circumstances. Since the 1960's in particular, the images and symbols of religion have undergone a transformation. Popular discourses about Religion and Spirituality, about the Self and Experience, about Faith and God; all indicate to crucially important shifts in the connotations of everyday spiritual life. Crucial because increasingly in our society of rampant consumerism, such deviating shifts are commanding our attention and influencing our interpretations of day - to - day experiences. While the 1960's offered us an anatomy of alternative spirituality, today, we are bombarded by a market place of spiritual gimmicks and an imposition of sacrament over shadowing the authenticity of religions doctrines. If we accept that religious identities are malleable and multifaceted, the greater evidence of self - reflexivity in modern life further accentuates religious discontinuities, including among evangelical fundamentalists, now presume an aware
When spirituality is recast and marketed under the material practices of the competitive market, the origins religious faith and purpose are loosened, and the motivations appear mercenary, and the religious climate becomes a casualty rather than a product of the religious entrepreneur market; creating an exploited hoax rather than a symbolic connotation of spiritual faith. The virtues of the wilderness offer moral primitivism, the promise of salvation and cosmic presence amid the rural and mystical divinity, implicit in spiritual energies. While I do not wish to suggest Elvis as a Christ-like figure, he was certainly an icon, worshipped, and whose disciples religiously return to the sanctuary of Graceland, much like the rush of tourists to Sante Fe and religious theme parks. Their hegemonic obsession with apocalyptic impeccancy launches a market for gurus, herbal dieticians and healers and evangelical fundamentalists to offer a scheme for its consumers to invest into, for a fast track to perfection, salvation and spiritual cleansing and enlightenment. "Elvis Lives" as the saying goes, not only in his music, but under the wigs of a thousand impersonators and in the faithful daily reportings of Elvis sightings. If we are considering the spiritual duty pilgrimages to pious domains and the purchasing of deities, relics and icons, such as Higher Conscious mantras, Santa Fe and Heritage USA, then it is surely only appropriate to also consider the patriotic reverence of pilgrimages to Graceland as entitled to a share of the religious and spiritual market place. Essentially all three, Graceland, Santa Fe, and Heritage USA, are metaphors of a media merry-go-round, a playground in which the proprietor, be it the Elvis Presley Estate, Jimmy and Tammy Bakker, or New Age prophets, are able to manifest their fantasies and feed their consumers demand for mascots, entertainment and fulfillment. " Displaying evidence of such importunate and blatant capital violation of the New Age market place tears at the doctrines and exploits their authenticity, implying that spirituality in America is simply just an additional commodity. This contradiction of resolving religious doctrines as entertainment, to generate mass audience appeal and as an agency of religious promotion "inherently flawed by capitalist imperatives" , is according to Harvey Cox a means of expanding the market through non-traditional mechanisms. However prior to their convictions, the notorious and unashamedly materialistic ministry couple, broke ground for Heritage USA, a sprawling religious theme park created to show that "Christianity should be fun. " Heritage USA trailed only the two Disney parks in attendance by the early '80s, and it was the vacation industry's undisputed leader in Christian kitsch. Is it any wonder that people in our churches approach their spiritual hungers expecting micro-wave convenience?" As David Henderson argues in his book "Culture Shift", a synthetic emphasis upon religion and spirituality has grown in parallel to the religious market becoming so vividly integrated into popular culture; amid society's fascinated frenzy of celebrity and media vogue. The enhanced religious competition that ensued the liberal diversity of the 1960's, has proved to be a catalyst for the reconstruction of religious fundamentalism and religious practices catering to a broad range of interests, causes, personalities and curiosities. The structurally diverse religious environment of the United States market, that has manifested as a consequence of the spiritual revolution of the Haight - Ashbury generation; enjoys a subtle underlying advantage, in that it encourages individuals and groups towards selective exploration of religious heritage as a mechanism for opposing unfavourable practices. As social demographics metamorphose and trends and current events stretch our imagination, religious messages have come to be re-styled and equipped in accordance to fit a targeted clientele; often on the basis of market analysis.
Common topics in this essay:
Faith God,
Bakker Age,
Wealth Charging,
Heritage USA,
Culture Shift,
Road King's,
Santa Fe,
Media Mass,
Elvis Lives,
Fe I've,
santa fe,
heritage usa,
theme park,
religious spiritual,
spiritual market,
religious theme,
religion spirituality,
religious spiritual market,
religious fundamentalism,
fe heritage usa,
evangelical fundamentalists,
religious theme park,
social psychological,
santa fe heritage,
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Acceptance Essays
