The Beatles Bigger or More POPULAR Than Jesus?!

In 1966, John Lennon of the world famous rock band, the Beatles, caused much controversy when he compared themselves to Christianity. He stated that: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that: I'm right, and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus Christ now; I don't know which will go first—rock 'n' roll or Christianity."* This is not a stab at Christianity, but by incorporating some arguments from the past readings and lectures, one can come to understand what John really meant and how his statement was blown out of context.

So, was he proved right?

In a sense, yes. Dustin Kidd’s article that was assigned in class, argued over the normalcy of popular culture and compared it to crime. He argued that focus should be on how popular culture has come to greatly affect society. This is what John Lennon was doing when he made his claim. Using the word “popular” and not bigger, John was referring to the fact that the Beatles were obviously getting more attention than Christianity because they were in the center of the dominant form of society (aka popular culture). John was objectively saying that the Beatles were a product of popular culture and thus more popular. He did not mean that they, as people, were better than Jesus because of this.

Christians burning Beatles memorabilia as a reaction to Lennon's claim.

Christians did not respond well to Lennon’s comment, and protested against it by coming together and burning any Beatles memorabilia they had. From a missiological approach, most Christians thought popular culture to be dangerous because pop-icons,  like the Beatles, were thought to be enforcing anti-Christ messages. At the same time, the Christian’s were brought into the centre of focus alongside the Beatles as they used it to missionize their message, which was that: the Beatles were anti-Christ. 

This moment in history was made into a parody in a Simpsons episode. Homer and his friends are seen on a cover of a music album walking on water, like Christ, in the way the Beatles did on their cover of their Abbey Road album.  

Here is footage of John Lennon in response to his comment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ6NL3iNNMs&feature=related

*John's quote taken from: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842611,00.html