A Lutheran Shout Out to Cee Lo Green

Happy New Year, my friends!

My wife and I took it easy this past New Year's Eve. We were home by midnight, and, like many millions of other Americans, we watched the New Year's celebrations from New York's Times Square on television. A highlight of this year's broadcast for me was Cee Lo Green's interpretation of John Lennon's classic Imagine.

Imagine my surprise at discovering the very next morning that Mr. Green's rendition of this wonderful song had incensed many music fans and caused a fury of protest over a changed lyric. If you didn't catch it, Mr. Lennon's original lyrics to the second stanza read

          Imagine there's no countries;
          It isn't hard to do.
          Nothing to kill or die for,
         And no religion, too.

Mr. Green, in his New Year's Eve version, subtly altered the lyric "no religion too" to "and all religion's true." Personally, I thought the change was an improvement.

Many John Lennon fans, however, were indignant by the switched lyrics and have been burning up the internet with protest. Granted, the late Mr. Lennon has--and deservedly so, in my opinion--achieved something on the order of divine status among rock musicians and their devotees. Perhaps his fans believe that any change to his lyrics is akin to changing a sacred scriptural text--an act of blasphemy and desacration. I agree with this in principle as I'm one of those guys who gets annoyed when people screw up the words to songs I like; however, I also acknowledge that singers have commonly taken liberties with song lyrics for centuries without causing the downfall of civilization.

Now, I'm not really that familiar with Mr. Green or his work (although I will say he has a lovely singing voice), so I can't speak for his motivation in changing the song. He has since tweeted that he was attempting to promote a vison of a world in which all people could believe what they wanted. If his conscience did not permit him to sing the praises of a world void of religion, than I applaud his choice. As the founder of my own denomination, Dr. Martin Luther, so aptly put it, "...it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience." (Diet of Worms, 1521)

Imagine a world without religion. Would we really want a world in which there was no curiosity about ultimate meaning? A world with no quest for ethical behavior based on ultimate meaning? Such a world would have no humbling sense of mystery. There would be no unifying mythology or communal practices. Perhaps there would be no sense of altruism. No abolitionist movement. No civil rights movement. Would you really prefer a world without the music and art inspired by spiritual commitment? No J. S. Bach? No Michaelangelo?

Yes, I know the history of humanity is scarred by relgious abuse. Mr. Green's alternative lyric begs the question: Are all religions true? Certainly there are aspects of religion in history which cannot be validated. Decency demands that no stamp of approval can be placed on sectarian violence, warfare, and terrorism. Human sacrifices and burning crosses are repulsive to any moral person. Nor can we countenance political oppression in the name of faith, and we must acknowledge that an awful lot of pure sham has been built over the foundations of ligitimate spiritual pilgrimage.

But, being a Lutheran, I feel compelled to give Mr. Green the benefit of the doubt (See Luther's explanation to the Eighth Commandment in The Small Catechism). I suspect that he may knowingly or unknowingly be an adherent of the late Joseph Campbell, the Sarah Lawrence professor of mythology and comparative religions, whose great contribution to contemporary thought was his determination to find the similarities among all religions. When one reads Campbell, one can't help but think that all unifying mythologies are an attempt to come to terms with mortality, to seek a harmonious relationship with eternal things, and discover an authentic and ethical way to relate to the world and our fellow humans. And there is something very real, pure, and true about that.

So Happy New Year, Mr. Green! You have corrected the only blemish in an otherwise perfect piece of music.

Thanks for reading, my friends. Let me know what you think, will you?

(Oh! and, by the way, if you aren't familiar with Joseph Campbell, you really should click on the link above and learn more about him. His work will strengthen your own faith, whatever it may be.)