"The making of meaning is a serious business"

In times of great population shifts, occupational and geographical mobility and rapid cultural changes; religion reinvents itself in response to its social circumstances. Since the 1960's in particular, the images and symbols of religion have undergone a transformation. Popular discourses about Religion and Spirituality, about the Self and Experience, about Faith and God; all indicate to crucially important shifts in the connotations of everyday spiritual life. Crucial because increasingly in our society of rampant consumerism, such deviating shifts are commanding our attention and influencing our interpretations of day - to - day experiences. While the 1960's offered us an anatomy of alternative spirituality, today, we are bombarded by a market place of spiritual gimmicks and an imposition of sacrament over shadowing the authenticity of religions doctrines.

If we accept that religious identities are malleable and multifaceted, the greater evidence of self - reflexivity in modern life further accentuates religious discontinuities, including among evangelical fundamentalists, now presume an aware

"I've read somewhere that movie stars own more property per square foot of the city than anywhere else on the continent."

Such evidence of celebrity spiritual investment creates a parody of the spiritual doctrines of fundamentalist beliefs. Suggesting that the market place has in fact created casualties of religious fundamentalism rather than genuine religious products of enlightenment. Melanie McGrath goes on to describe the alleged sanctity of Santa Fe as nothing more than a tourist town:

In the latter chapters of his book, Kennedy spends some time examining large-scale religious institutions. He visits Jim and Tammy Bakker's Heritage USA Christian theme park. The infamous religious theme park that was the centerpiece of the Bakker's PTL ministry until the couple went bankrupt and Bakker was convicted of fraud and required to serve a prison sentence. However prior to their convictions, the notorious and unashamedly materialistic ministry couple, broke ground for Heritage USA, a sprawling religious theme park created to show that "Christianity should be fun." Heritage USA trailed only the two Disney parks in attendance by the early '80s, and it was the vacation industry's undisputed leader in Christian kitsch. Apart from the theme park itself, the estate boasted a church, a gated community, a shopping mall, a country club (headquarters for the compassionate social welfare efforts), a "Heavenly Fudge Shoppe" retailing flavours such as "Angel Taste", and a "Heaven Scent Perfumery". A spokeperson for the theme park is quoted of saying in Peter Hawkins' "American heritage": "We give Christians what they want - the chance to shop, eat and pray" . In essence the park pilgrimage destination fueled off the back of a broadcasting "Christian" media empire.

ness of religious choice. Reflexivity is not simply an individual's trait; indeed institutions themselves have at their disposal the ability to deflect religious and spiritual styles to meet social and psychological demands of their consumers and practitioners. As social demographics metamorphose and trends and current events stretch our imagination, religious messages have come to be re-styled and equipped in accordance to fit a targeted clientele; often on the basis of market analysis. The concept of an open religious economy, offers the consumer a spiritual market place, operating in terms of both "demand" and "supply". Religious production and its consumption are now remodelling spiritual styles and religious identities.

"Symbols, imageries, icons, and discourses of virtually all kinds have burst upon the scene in recent decades."

As David Henderson argues in his book "Culture Shift", a synthetic emphasis upon religion and spirituality has grown in parallel to the religious market becoming so vividly integrated into popular culture; amid society's fascinated frenzy of ce

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Approximate Word count = 1929
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)