A place of pilgrimage is supposed to be a peaceful place for prayer, reflection and spiritual growth and understanding. However, this atmosphere would change with the high levels of tourist activity that commercialism involves. People would lose the ability to feel the presence of God.
In the New Testament, Luke 19:45-48, Jesus entered the temple and drove out those who were trading. If Jesus did not want people to trade at places of prayer and worship, then surely it is a sin to carry out similar acts in the society that we live in today. Jesus said to the traders: ‘It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.’
Recent interpretations would define this comment, in relation to pilgrimage, that the purpose of a pilgrimage is to pray, and be at peace with God and your inner self, not to make money.
Making a profit out of those who believe that a pilgrimage is absolutely necessary is exploitation, and it shows a complete absence of moral values.
As with the majority of places on earth, an increase in people means that there would be an increase in litter. This would harm the reputation of a place of pilgrimage, and true Christians may feel discouraged about going to that place of pilgrimage in the search for spiritual fulfilment.
Those who agree that places of pilgrimage are very commercialised will argue that, as time has gone on, it has become increasingly easier to find ways of travelling to places of pilgrimage. For example, Lourdes has many more shops, and travel agents have been gradually increasing the amount of trips there. Taizé has also grown massively over the years. It started as a small community over 60 years ago, but now, it has thousands of people per week during the summer time.
Those who disagree with the statement will argue that any profit from commercialism could be reinvested into the place of pilgrimage. This money could be used to maintain the quality of the environment. This money could also be used to provide special facilities for those people who might need them.
Commercialism may encourage Christians who had not previously considered pilgrimage to take on spiritual journey. With this, Christians can witness the practises of other nationalities and denominations of Christianity in a larger scale, and in many cases, experience new methods of worship.
Those devoted Christians may see and hear many secular images of a pilgrimage. Secular images can be very misleading, so a Christian may feel inclined to discover pilgrimage in its true form.
In response to the argument concerning Jesus’ disapproval of trading in the temple, Jesus specifically tells the traders that they should not trade in the temple. However, many commercial aspects of pilgrimage, for example, shops, are located away from the main focus of each place of pilgrimage.
Commercialism has benefited the people of Taizé because it is about community, so more people going to Taizé means that it will be able to expand its community, and more people will carry out the mission and follow the principles that are practised there.
If more people visit a place of pilgrimage, costs will decrease. This is called economies of scale, and it will benefit those who run Taizé and those who visit Taizé.
Commercialism in places of pilgrimage is evident due to the amount of souvenirs and gifts that you can buy. An example of this is that when you visit Lourdes, you can buy small bottles that are the shape of the Virgin Mary.
Having considered both sides of the argument, I agree that places of pilgrimage tend to be very commercialised, but I don’t agree that this should reduce the value of pilgrimage to a Christian.
I think that places of pilgrimage are more commercialised because it is much easier to locate, and travel to a place of pilgrimage than it has been in past times. Also, there are significant growths in towns and cities surrounding places of pilgrimage. This suggests that more people are visiting these places.
I disagree that commercialism reduces the value of a pilgrimage for a Christian because those people who go on a pilgrimage are serious and will acknowledge the fact that there may be some distractions, and they should focus on the true meaning of the spiritual journey that they have taken.
I also believe that people would not put the time and effort into a journey as intense as a pilgrimage if they thought there would be no significant increase in their spiritual growth and development as a Christian in today’s world.
