The Church's Stellar Social History

So, I'm reading an awesome present from Lindsey last night (actually couldn't stop reading it, stayed up 'til 3:00) called I Was There:Gigs that Changed the World. It's all about Jazz, Blues, and Rock shows that go down in rock n roll history for their "in the zone" playing, their social or political importance or just their you-had-to-be-there aspects.

As I'm reading through, I am amazed, and not for the first time, at what the church objected too. First, it was blues. Robert Johnson, the famous blues guitarman who, rock legend has it, sold his soul to the devil to get guitar skills. Well, of course, once that rumor started floating around the church could have none of it, banning and chasing Mr. Johnson out of town after town in the south. And then, as we all know, came Rock 'N' Roll and the legendary Elvis performance on the Milton Berle Show. Nicknamed Elvis the Pelvis, the church thought Mr. Presley was just too much sex for TV. The backlash was so great that he was shot from the neck up on the Ed Sullivan Show.

So, I got to thinking. Let's take a look back at the things the church has opposed over the years.

First, the church opposed pretty much anything that wasn't the church. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, all that.

Of course, any woman who proported to have a working relationship with God was burned at the stake for witchcraft.

Reading the Bible in anything but Latin (NOT it's original language by the way) was once blasphemy. In fact, anybody reading the Bible who wasn't a priest.....blasphemy.

In the US, I don't need to remind anyone of how Christians felt about the native peoples of the Americas.

Integrated church services, I still don't think the church does very well on that.

And then came the evil, moral-draining rock 'n' roll revolution.

No woman speakie in churchie, woman brain not big as man.


Of course, I could go on and on and on. The church always seems get all up in a huff about something only to watch it become a cultural norm. Elvis too much sex for TV. I've seen Denis Franz's backside more than I've seen my own.

I'm just saying that I'm glad the church has finally moved on from these unimportant issues and moved on to the things that are really tearing this world apart, those evils that threaten our very exsistance. War? Violence? Poverty? Disease? Hunger? Oh no, I'm sorry, I meant gay marriage and the right to choose. I'm sorry for the confusion. (I know I can't type sarcasm, but you should be picking up what I'm laying down)

Hey, Rev. Brad Bryan, Christians, the Church.......GETOVERYOURSELVES!

Rock 'N' Roll will never die, Brad