Hero worship and celebrity status clergy

Most dictionaries define "hero worship" as something like "foolish or excessive admiration of someone." Our society is filled with hero worship -- just think sports and movie stars. Churches may be quick to condemn this while celebrating their own style of hero worship. It is not wrong to admire someone, to do as the Bible says "render honour to whom honour is due." But often this admiration becomes unholy, and all that the "hero" does is admirable -- regardless of what he or she does. Very often this in making a pastor or Christian leader the object of one's undue admiration, and justifying with ideas of "pastoral authority" and "touch not God's anointed." The truth is that the human soul cannot withstand such admiration and is lifted up with pride. It is destructive to the person admired and often devolves into the basest of action towards the admirers. May God deliver us all from such.

This morning's links contain stories of one such case.