Come One, Come All To The Holy Land!
When I was a kid, my favorite trips were when my family and I would head down to Orlando, Florida. I loved the warm weather, the exotic wildlife, but most of all, I loved the theme parks. Canada’s Wonderland was like a sad playground in comparison to the exciting rides and exhibits at Disney World, Busch Gardens, and Universal Studios. Little did I know that those weren’t the only major theme parks that Florida had to offer…
One evening while watching Bill Maher’s (biased yet entertaining and fascinating) documentary, Religilous, I learned of The Holy Land Experience.
This theme park based in Orlando, Florida encourages people of all faiths to visit and observe the life size replicas of The Great Temple or Calvary’s Garden Tomb, watch a theatrical retelling of classic Bible stories told through song, dance and pyrotechnics, and even meet Jesus himself or witness his crucifixion live. There are also many gardens on the premises as well as a recreated “Jerusalem Street Market” aimed at transporting guests back “ to a land that is 2000 years old”! Everybody who works at and attends the theme park are extremely passionate about the park’s purpose and their own faith. In the following clip from Religilous, Bill Maher talks to and challenges employees, tourists, and “Jesus”.
From reading reviews of the “experience” online, attendees either really love the park or really dislike it based on how commercialized it has become. This leads me to question what the true motives behind Florida’s Holy Land are. If it is meant to be a truly holy and spiritual experience, why do guests have to pay $50 per visit instead of receiving a complimentary visit? Why is there a pretzel stand in the “authentic” Jerusalem Street Market. Yorke Rowan notes that the typical “tourist’s desire for authentic experience is a modern embodiment of the religious pilgrim, a ritual process forming or reaffirming a collective consciousness” (Rowan, 259). But on the other hand Rowan also goes on to discuss authenticity in the park and notes that, of course, all the buildings, props, and personages are all replicated; a museum is authentic if it has artifacts but how authentic is the “biblical museum” that the Holy Land claims to be if it has replications of the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Where do we draw the lines between authenticity and faith? Is it necessary for one to take a pilgrimage to Orlando, Florida to reaffirm their belief in Christianity by watching an actor emerge from a cement prop?
Rowan, Yorke M. Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past. Walnut Creek, CA: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Print.