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Elvis worship

sackett

Barely Tolerated Lampooneer
S
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Google “elvis worship” and “elvis cult” and you get a whole raft of sites. The terms are currently used either satirically or metaphorically, at least from what I can see, but I wonder how long before an honest-to-pete Elvis cult doesn’t come to light. After all, if a Catholic can pray to a saint, why can’t an Elvis believer pray to the King?

The question arises, when does fan zealotry turn into actual worship? How would you distinguish a bad case of one from a bad case of the other?
 
I recall being in a mall gift shop a few years ago, and looking around at the offerings, I couldn't help think that if a future archeologist dug the thing up a few thousand years from now, they'd conclude that we worshipped three gods:

1. Elvis
2. John Wayne
3. Jesus
 
@Bikewer: Blasphemer!!!!










... #1 is #3. That is, the chief deity of our times is Dale Earnhardt. He gave his life that we might have everlasting vroom.
 
sackett said:
Google “elvis worship” and “elvis cult” and you get a whole raft of sites. The terms are currently used either satirically or metaphorically, at least from what I can see, but I wonder how long before an honest-to-pete Elvis cult doesn’t come to light. After all, if a Catholic can pray to a saint, why can’t an Elvis believer pray to the King?

The question arises, when does fan zealotry turn into actual worship? How would you distinguish a bad case of one from a bad case of the other?
Click to expand...

My grandpa used to say "More people have seen Elvis since he died than ever saw Jesus, dead or alive". (Of course, he only said that when Grandma wasn't around)
 
We can learn most about a cult in its initial phases

We tend to use “cult” a little too freely, although it certainly is a handy word for obsessive fan devotion. I suppose that when a cultist ascribes supernatural qualities or powers to the cult figure he’s crossing the line into superstition, i.e., religion. It’s one thing to light a candle for the repose of Elvis’s soul, but another thing altogether when you light – that is, sacrifice – a candle to Elvis in hopes that he’ll intercede for you in heaven.

It’s easy to imagine somebody praying to a figure that he genuinely reveres and to which he feels a personal devotion:

“Elvis, I know that you’re with Jesus now, but if you can hear me, please reveal them Powerball numbers in a dream or some damn thing, see the bank are a going to repo my pickup if I don’t score some bucks real quick, Elvis, and I need that sucker, the truck I mean, to haul them racing slicks to Bismarck that I lifted off the Tires R Us loading dock. You was born poor same as me, and I know you know what it’s like to need something real bad and you ain’t got a fart’s chance in a whirlwind of getting it without somebody deevine helps. Sorry to bother you, Elvis, but I had to let you know what’s up with me these days, it’s a bitch right now and that’s a hundred-proof fact. Amen.”

But does it actually happen?
 
To me, the distinction between individual fans worshipping Elvis, or even coming together to worship Elvis, and an actual cult, would be in the structure. I.e., is there a leader? Money being gathered? Rituals? In short, how oriented is this group of people towards perpetuating their idea of worship?

(OT) In Robert Asprin's humorous futuristic SF novel, "Phule's Paradise," there is an actual Elvis religion. I recommend it; it's quite funny how references to Elvis are slotted into the standard religion script. Or not so standard - after all, one of the big ways of showing one's devotion is to obtain plastic surgery to look like the King. If you do want to read it, this book is a sequel to "Phule's Company," which is also quite good. (/OT)
 
I believe in the south, you can still find black-velvet paintings of Jesus and Elvis gazing down on the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. (Wha...?)
 
Avita said:
To me, the distinction between individual fans worshipping Elvis, or even coming together to worship Elvis, and an actual cult, would be in the structure. I.e., is there a leader? Money being gathered? Rituals? In short, how oriented is this group of people towards perpetuating their idea of worship?…
Click to expand...

I hear you, although organized, dues-paying fan clubs don’t imply outright worship of the cult figure. (There have been -- and maybe still are? -- Frank Sinatra fan clubs. Who on earth could ever worship the likes of that?)

However, I believe you’re on track about formal organization leading eventually to honest-to-Jesus worship. If you see other people getting fervent about the hero, you may feel more free about carrying your adulation one step farther.

Rituals? Nothin’ to it; human gatherings fall into ritual behavior with almost no effort. I suspect that it takes ritual to keep a group together.

And money? If you find yourself the leader (I almost wrote pastor) of an Elvis congregation and DON’T gather in the sheaves, then shame on you for smirching the good name of con-men everywhere!
 
Dragonrock said:
Elvis should not be worship for himself. Elvis is simply the prophet of the Great Taco In The Sky.
Click to expand...

Well, then I can't be a Tacofarian (or whatever) because I hate Elvis.
I'll just stick with the FSM. He doesn't believe in celebrity icons. Just pasta.
RAmen.
;)
 
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