Imagine the Vacuity of Celebrity Religion

Many years ago I heard a young seminarian preach a sermon where he told us how great his dad was, and as evidence of the man’s goodness he said, “I know that Dad loves me so much that he would even lay down his life for me.” He got emotional as he said that, so I figured it would have been uncharitable of me to tell him afterward, “Look, any father would give up his life for his child. How despicable would a man have to be NOT to do that? Only an evil coward would refuse to die for his son! All you really said there was that your dad is a minimally decent human being.” I also did not deliver the knockout blow (recalling the old playground taunt “My-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad”) with, “Maybe your dad would have died for you, but my dad would have died for a stranger.”

(Rest in God, Lowell David Lundquist)

The memory of that sermon came to mind a few days ago as I watched Gal Gadot’s spliced-together video of celebrities singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” It’s their secular “Amazing Grace,” and I think they mean it to be comforting. I’m not a fan of the song, which is no surprise given that I’m a Christian and the song launches its attack on Christianity from the get-go with the words “Imagine there’s no heaven.” But that’s not the only problem with the song. “Imagine all the people living for today,” Lennon wrote. Actually I don’t have to imagine that – I see it all the time. In fact, a few weeks ago we all saw images of lots and lots of young people “living for today” on the beaches of Florida - spring breakers partying hard and brutally ignoring tomorrow’s potentially lethal consequences for themselves and countless others.

Let me be blunt (because nuance is dull, and, in this case, inappropriate): “Living for today” is selfish, contemptible, irresponsible and cruel. People who “live for today” are as despicable as men who won’t give their lives for their children. Wise, kind, compassionate and good individuals live for tomorrow. They consider the consequences of their actions in the moment and govern their behavior (even to the point of curbing powerful personal impulses) for the sake of future good - even the good of generations yet unborn. Living for today is Satanic.

Not that being Satanic was much of an issue for the Lennonists on the beaches of Florida. They don’t believe in Satan, nor in a “hell below us” where the consequences of wickedness might follow them past the grave.

I won’t bother contending with Lennon’s dream of a future where there’s “no religion, too.” Atheists Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins think that religion is very bad for humanity while atheists Jonathan Haidt and Matthew Parris think it is very good. I’ll sit on the sidelines and let atheists go at each other with that in-house debate. For me the issue is simpler: if the Christian religion is true then I’ll hold on to it even if it’s bad for me; if it’s false, then I’ll discard it even if it is more useful than sliced bread and more pleasant than conjugal embrace.

But I would like to aim my guns at a line in the song that is easily passed over – in fact I hadn’t given it any thought myself until alerted to it by some preacher:

Nothing to kill or die for

Nothing to kill for? Sounds good to me. Sign me up for that future. I never want to kill anybody or feel that I have to. But nothing to die for? That’s another story. That’s completely different.

Imagine being so devoid of love that there was no one for whom you would lay down your life. Not even your own son or daughter! Imagine a life so empty of purpose that there was no cause for which you would put your life in jeopardy. Heroes through the ages have put their lives in play, and sometimes lost them, because they were courageously (and even joyously!) devoted to something greater than themselves. From Nathan Hale, who before his execution was reported to have said, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country,” to the firemen who rushed toward the inferno of the World Trade Center, to present-day health care workers who battle Covid-19, we rightly celebrate those who “love not their lives unto death” but who offer them up for the sake of a good beyond their own.

Of course one might say, “But Paul, you yourself would say that in heaven there’s nothing to die for!” Right – but remember, John Lennon didn’t believe in heaven. His song starts off with the premise that there is no such place. This world - however enlightened and woke - is the sum-total best of what a Lennonite could ever hope for. And in this world, there is death.

As long as we live in a world with death, there will be things (and people) that good and worthy individuals will die for. They will volunteer to lose their lives so that others won't. They will say, for example, “As the respirators run short, please give mine to somebody else.”

Lennon’s dream of having nothing to die for places oneself at the center of the universe - makes of oneself a king whose life is of absolute value and must not be sacrificed for anything or anyone. This elevation of self and consequent devaluation of everything else is cold, loveless, selfish and sad. Do yourself a favor, and do not imagine into existence a hellish future where you seat yourself on a throne of your own contrivance and would not descend from it to sacrifice yourself even to save the world. On this Good Friday, take instead, into your deepest mind and soul, the humbling truth that the only real King of the universe did in fact step down from his throne in order to die on behalf of selfish sinners who were doing their best to imagine him away.