Robert Schuller Cancels Art Show at Crystal Cathedral Last Minute

Last night I was supposed to go to a masquerade ball/art show at the Crystal Cathedral. The Cathedral is an Orange County mega church run by televangelist Robert Schuller. You might remember him from TBN’s Hour of Power, played by Jim Carey with Damon Wayons on In Living Color.

The art show was being put on by a group of artists, many of whom are students at Long Beach State. I was surprised to hear that a college art show was being held at the Crystal Cathedral. I have personal friends who attend college level art programs and the exhibits tend to be edgy, boundary testing work, not stuff I imagine at a mega church.

As it turns out, I was right to worry, despite the fact that the show had already been hung at the Crystal Cathedral for over a week, the day of the show Robert Schuller canceled it after a kid complained about one of the pieces. Schuller saw the piece, dubbed it “pervasive”, and cancelled the show the morning it was supposed to happen.

More a combination of Splatterhouse and Edward Scissorhands than pervasive

Long story short, some of the artists and my girlfriend managed to move the entire show to a warehouse across town. Everything ended up fine, thanks to some last minute hard work But I was surprised that this happened for two reasons. First, I was a little shocked that a group of artists would think to host an art show at a church. The church hasn’t been a supporter of art since the Renascence. They seem to have had somewhat of a negative attitude about art since then. I was also surprised that the church let the art hang for a week without complaining about it. You would think at least one greasy, tobacco stained church executive could have peeled himself away from counting money long enough for a peek at the art before the day of the event. I guess that’s asking too much.

The Reason We Went