Sir Elton: Ban organised religion

 

Sir Elton has said a "conclave" of religious leaders has to be held

 

Sir Elton John has said he would like to see all organised religion banned and accused it of trying to "turn hatred towards gay people".

 

Organised religion lacked compassion and turned people into "hateful lemmings", he told the Observer.

 

But the musician said he loved the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it which he had learned at Sunday school.

 

And he said there were many gays he knew who loved their religion.

 

'Doesn't work'

 

His comments were made in a special gay edition of the Observer Music Monthly Magazine, where he was interviewed by Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears.

 

"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people," he said. "Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.

 

"But there are so many people I know who are gay and love their religion."

 

According to the singer-songwriter, 59, his solution would be to "ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it".

 

He added: "I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school and I collected all the little stickers and put them in my book.

 

"But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."

 

He also said that the problems experienced by many gays in former nations of the Soviet bloc, such as Poland, Latvia and Russia were caused by the church supporting anti-gay movements.

 

'God's people'

 

And he called on the leaders of major religions to hold a "conclave" to discuss the fate of the world - which he said was "near escalating to World War Three".

 

"I said this after 9/11 and people thought I was nuts," he said. "It's all got to be dialogue - that's the only way. Get everybody from each religion together and say 'Listen, this can't go on. Why do we have all this hatred?'

 

"We are all God's people; we have to get along and the [religious leaders] have to lead the way. If they don't do it, who else is going to do it? They're not going to do it and it's left to musicians or to someone else to deal with it."

 

He also said he would continue to campaign for gay rights.

 

"I'm going to fight for them, whether I do it silently behind the scenes or so vocally that I get locked up."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guy speaks sense.... every word I agree with....

This is probably something that would work a bit better in the Perspectives Forum, but regardless of that, he is quite correct in what he says and I agree with him... Him and Richard Dawkins should maybe join forces....

my problem with it is his reasoning, whilst anti gay preachings are good reason enough i think its only 1 element of the bigger picture.

 

the beautiful teachings are not the property of any one religion, but aremainly just common sense.

 

ban religion...yes... but because its all bollox, its a lie, its simply untrue. you cant live your life based upon a fairystory, whilst a life based on common sense and reason would be far less devisive against any minority group, be it gays or even women! lol.

This is probably something that would work a bit better in the Perspectives Forum, but regardless of that, he is quite correct in what he says and I agree with him...

 

well i thought of posting it there but as it goes with all the other things from the omm i put it here first.

 

http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22800

 

however i'll move it

I can understand why Elton John and maybe other gay people may feel frustrated with organized religion. I think what he says make sense, but I think he doesn´t speak literally when he says "ban" religion, because that would be the same stupidity as hating homossexuals. Ban it because it´s a lie also is not a good idea, because everyone has their own idea of "truth" and people have the right to embrace their views.

 

A life based only on common sense and reason... no, it wouldn´t work. In theory it´s all perfect, but when it comes to reality it never works. Imagine if Marx could see what happened with the supposed comunist countries of the world... People will not do the right thing just because of "common sense", wether this exists or not... this simply isn´t a good enough reason. Anyone should be able to live their lives based on what their believe, even if the believe the universe was created by a giant banana, as long as it doesn´t do any harm to society.

 

Just like Elton John has said in the interview, there are many gay people who are religious. And I think it´s their part to stand up for their rights and make their voices be heard. It´s not like you can´t have a religion being gay. Religion also bans sex before marriage, and still, how many religious people do that? If anyone who comits any sin cannot have a relion, then the churches would remain empty all the time.

Plus, imagine if these religious gay people Elton John mentioned, after suffering for being homo, now also has to be persecuted for their religion... not looking good for them.

Anyone should be able to live their lives based on what their believe as long as it doesn´t do any harm to society.

 

I think Elton's problem is that many religions, Catholicism and Islam among many, would like to see the homosexual act made illegal - so one rule for one with regards to following a religion cannot be a different rule for another following a certain lifestyle.

 

...and as for churches being empty if all sinners avoided going.... most churches in Britain ARE empty. There's fewer people attending now than ever.

 

A life based only on common sense and reason... no, it wouldn´t work.

 

 

oh then lets live the alternative to that then! <_<..... anarchy?

 

religion doesnt work, its a falsehood, a lie.

 

I can see where he is coming from and share the seniments. Especially this:

 

"But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."

 

However it's unhelpful to ban anyone as this would then set up more intolerant people.