ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of time, performance has had a symbiotic relationship with religion. That is to say, music and dance always accompanied religious ceremonies and worship and were integrally associated with both mystery and doctrine. The first great culture to infuse its entire society with the magic of music and dance was Ancient Egypt. Most of Egyptian religious life was marked by the performance of music and dance. Ceremonial palettes and stone vessels indicate the importance that music had even in the earliest of periods. Subsequently, all cultures and religions embraced song and dance, which were the earliest forms of entertainment,
In this chapter, we visit various aspects of entertainment as it relates to religious communication. Live performance-dance, drama, music, and theme parks-begin the discussion; mediated religion-movies, television, radio, comics, and the Internet-follows. The association between sports and religion is presented next. And because religion and communication are forms of socialization, we dedicate equal time to looking at how the way we interact and socialize impacts entertainment.
