Van Morrison joins US New Age church
But didn’t you say that you’d have nothing to do with religion?
TWO years after he said he wouldn’t touch religion ‘with a 10ft pole’, Van Morrison has confirmed he has joined an LA-based New Age church.
The rock demigod says that he is a member of the Agape spiritual movement in California, a group that has been variously described as ‘a cult’ and ‘a religion for outof-touch New Age flakes’.
Set up by ‘pastor’ Michael Beckwith, who counts Oprah Winfrey among his fans, the ‘church’ promotes a mish-mash, of Buddhism, mindfulness and New Age hippy values. Beckwith claims to have cured a woman of kidney disease and says that an 80-year-old African shaman ‘speaking in tongues’ told him he would be instrumental in bringing about world peace.
His talk has attracted many devotees, including Coretta Scott King, the late widow of Martin Luther King.
‘I’m a member and I’m a friend of Dr Beckwith,’ Morrison, 72, says in an interview to be published in Uncut magazine next month. ‘I can’t tell you much right now. If anyone wants to find out, I’d rather they looked it up themselves. It’s spiritual but it’s not religion. It’s beyond religion.’
Van’s forthcoming album Roll With Te Punches features a song, Transformation, apparently inspired by his membership of Agape (pronounced A - Gap - E)
The singer recently performed at an Agape church ‘service’ in LA where Beckwith introduced him as ‘brother Van, a dear and devoted community member’. Beckwith also told the congregation that Morrison regularly livestreams the services from his Belfast home.
The singer then climbed on stage and gave a soulful rendition of ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? and could be heard repeatedly saying ‘what an adventure’, during the performance.
Agape (Greek for love) was founded in 1986 and has 9,000 members in LA and one million globally, according to Beckwith who says his vision is fuelled by ‘the love of God, the One, indefinable yet unmistakable presence whose vehicle on Earth is the human heart and soul’. The church also says gay people have ‘a special gift’.
Written large on the movement’s website under the word ‘Donate’ is this quote from Beckwith. ‘Give to Live until you Live to Give.’
He says that ‘as a non-profit, philanthropic organisation, Agape depends upon the generosity of its members, congregants and friends’ and that ‘tithing’ is an essential part of this.
The Agape movement recently featured in a film directed by Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring, which reviewers described as ‘a snapshot of the absurdity of Hollywood life’. In it, a number of fictional characters are Agape members, described as ‘out-of-touch New Age flakes’.
Other commentators are even more scathing. One contributor to a cult-monitoring group in the US says Beckwith is ‘manipulative and aggressive’. ‘Michael Beckwith is promoting a huge grab-bag of almost every type of New Thought, New Age approach out there,’ he says. ‘He is an extremely aggressive entrepreneur.’
Morrison was once linked with Scientology, and controversially thanked its founder, L Ron Hubbard, on the sleeve notes of a 1983 album. However, he later distanced himself from the organisation and two years ago, just before the Cyprus Avenue concerts to celebrate his 70th, he said: ‘Religion. I wouldn’t touch it with a 10ft pole.’
‘It’s spiritual. It’s beyond religion’ ‘Out-of-touch New Age flakes’