The Beatles over Jesus - no. The Beatles over the Catholic Church - ?

Last Sunday, L'Osservatore Romano, a newspaper closely associated with the Vatican, ran a front-page article praising the legacy of the Beatles. The article reversed decades of Church condemnation originally sparked by John Lennon's claim that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus and that rock and roll would outlive Christianity.

Consider how the Trinity of Truth plays out in this ongoing story. Note how both parties first exaggerate the power of their preferred form of knowledge (sensation versus religion) then come to a healthier balance once they are held accountable to objective reasoning.

Lennon's controversial comments were made to a journalist at the Evening Standard in 1966: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first — rock and roll or Christianity." 

The comments were later explained by Lennon that he had no quarrel with Jesus or even with Christianity, so while coming short of a retraction, he implied that he should have differentiated between the Church and Jesus.

The Beatles' success is obviously due to their expression of a truth that resonates with millions around the globe, and continues to do so with new generations today. The most popular and long-standing of musicians share a marked disregard for both religion and reason because success is the ablility to bypass both the mind and the soul and immediately win the heart through sound. Alcohol and drug use play a role in facilitating that disregard.

Last week's article acknowledges the validity of this form of truth despite the Beatles disregard for other religious values: "It's true, they took drugs; swept up by their success, they lived dissolute and uninhibited lives". "They even said they were more famous than Jesus and put out mysterious messages that were possibly even Satanic. But, listening to their songs, all of this seems distant and meaningless. Their beautiful melodies, which changed forever pop music and still give us emotions, live on like precious jewels."

Some are suggesting that the Catholic Church's semi-official blessing is just a distraction from the sexual abuse scandals that are seriously challenging the Church's moral authority. A more hopeful way to look at it is that the Church is showing signs of acknowledging that the truth of the body needs to be balanced with religious truth.

Both sides need reminding of the need for balance. Since 1966 there has been no shortage of evidence suggesting that excessive reliance on the truth of bodily sensations may also lead to obesity, pedophilia, sexual addiction and drug abuse. Ten years after Lennon's comment the King of Rock and Roll died of an overdose. Thirty three years after that, the King of Pop died in a similar manner. Neither one were able to control the tyranny of his bodily appetites.

Freedom and power are often used to seek shelter from one form of truth and not to become fully conscious. Clear bias towards one form of truth is maintained by focusing on, and exaggerating, the faults of your opponents - who usually have a different preferred form of knowledge. Rationalization is the denial of the legitimacy of one form of knowledge so the Church's acknowlegment of value of the Beatles' music is a step forward.

Much of society remains stuck in this falsely, competitive dichotomy between reason and religion - making exaggerated truth claims as proof of allegiance to one's gender or politics. Conservatives prefer religion, liberals personal experiences - both claim reason and slip into rationalizations. Men often dismiss the validity of feelings and religion, while women more often dismiss rational argument and other people's experiences.

Praying helps to find the balance, not because God puts plagues on your opponents, but because the concept of being accountable to an all-knowing God quickly deflates our self-serving exaggerations or claims of ignorance when dismissing the evidence generated by other forms of knowledge.  When rationalizing we hold tight to our narrow versions of the truth.

Whether the Catholic Church will survive or not will depend upon its ability to face the plethora of objective evidence suggesting that its version of truth is out of balance. The narrower, but better balanced versions of truth, expressed by the Beatles and Jesus are good places to look for inspiration.