Religious Scholar

Two billion people—one third of the world’s population—attended all or part of the same Anglican church service Friday.

This is astonishing, perhaps the first time in the history of world religion that so many people have observed, listened to, and in a sense participated in a single religious service. Thanks to television and the Internet, the Royal Wedding on April 29, 2011, brought more than a storybook marriage into the lives of people around the globe. It brought the Book of Common Prayer, the great Anglican hymns, “Guide me, O Thou great redeemer,” “Lord divine, all loves excelling,” “Jerusalem,” and the Lord’s Prayer, accompanied by the sight of one of the world’s great Gothic masterworks, Westminster Abbey, and the soaring music of Walton, Parry, and Elgar. No one who enjoyed this ceremony, whose heart beat faster as the strains of Crown Imperial accompanied the royal couple’s departure from the Abbey, can ever again claim to dislike classical music!

International political and cultural leaders joined in the singing and prayers alongside relatives and British royals (and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few space aliens beamed in, summoned by satellite dishes masquerading as fashionable millinery!). It was good to see the Archbishop of Canterbury looking fit and reflective, and celebrities including Elton John and David Furnish immersed in the church’s ancient rite of worship, praise, and wonder.

Those who turned on their TVs or computers to catch a glimpse of pomp and circumstance may well have left with something more: the surprising impression that religion is alive in the world. Despite the dogmas and restrictions that shut people out, religion is where we turn to celebrate life’s joyous milestones and grieve its heart-rending tragedies. In these rites, prayers, and songs—as diverse as the cultures from which they sprang—we find our place in the family of man and gain a glimpse of the infinite love that some call God.