The hospitality of the United States to hundreds and hundreds of religions is well established. Now, according to an Associated Press Report, a British documentary film raises the distinct possibility that a century hence the followers of Elvis Presley will constitute a religion. It apparently argues that "trappings" of such a religion are already becoming evident.
Though at present no follower of Elvis actually claims divinity for the great one, "there appears to be a kind of substitution of the Elvis figure for the divine figure, I don't know why", a religion scholar at Assumption College told interviewers. The signs are there: a million devoted followers worldwide, torchlight rituals with an eternal flame at Graceland on the anniversary of Elvis's death, a consistent minority of Americans who tell pollsters that Elvis may still be alive and people who report visions of Elvis and a sense of his nearness to them in times of trouble. And, despite the singer's less-than-blameless life, he also appears to be taking on the aspect of a moral judge, definitely in the Old Testament prophet mode. One woman said that Elvis during his life "could flash his eyes at you and you'd know you'd done wrong."
Is this the start of something big? Is it the beginning of the Church of Elvis? The Constitution, as always, is reticent on such matters, allowing few if any test for what constitutes a bona fide religion, and the recent passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act reinforces that reticence. That Elvis functions as inspiration and comfort to his many fans is a fact universally acknowledged, but defining a religion is something else. We are happy to leave it to the theologians and, of course, the lawyers. But the first indisputable sign that the church has arrived will be plain to all when a citizen's group tries to ban the playing of "Don't Be Cruel" at public school graduations.