Elton john wants....

[vaz02]

Pop's Sir Elton John wants religion banned completely because he believes it promotes hatred of gays.

Speaking to the Observer Music Monthly Magazine the singer said religion lacked compassion and turned people into "hateful lemmings".

In a candid interview for a dedicated Gay issue of the magazine he shared his views on topics as varied as being a pop icon to Tony Blair's stance on the war in Iraq.

He said there was a lack of religious leadership, particularly in world politics, and complained that people do not take to the streets to protest any more.

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

"But there are so many people I know who are gay and love their religion. From my point of view I would ban religion completely. Organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.



"I said this after 9/11 and people thought I was nuts.

Sir Elton compared his place in British culture with that of the Queen Mother's. "People come to me and I'm a bit like the Queen Mother. I don't know what it is with me, people treat me very reverently.

He pledged to continue to campaign for gay rights saying: "I'm going to fight for them whether I do it silently behind the scenes or so vocally that I get locked up. I can't just sit back; it's not in my nature any more. I'm nearly 60-years-old after all. I can't sit back and blindly ignore it and I won't.

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He's got a point , religion and lack of understanding dont really help matters.

[A_Wanderer]

Elton John is both correct about religion but completely authoritarian in the course of action.

[redhotswami]

What about the members of the gay community who are religious??

[JCOSTER]

Elton is flipping his wig.

[A_Wanderer]

Originally posted by redhotswami
What about the members of the gay community who are religious??

They aren't wanted by the mainstream of their religions.

[INDY500]

Shut up and sing.

[indra]

Elton compared his place in British culture with that of the Queen Mother's. "People come to me and I'm a bit like the Queen Mother. I don't know what it is with me, people treat me very reverently.

I got quite a giggle out of that bit. Yep, Elton John and the Queen Mother -- both batty but harmless.


His proposal would never work of course, but I think it should be proposed regularly, just to keep the "I don't like it/think it's immoral/find it icky" religious types on their toes.

[A_Wanderer]

How about the freedom of concience crowd who see that atheistic regimes murdered millions and supressed religious thought?

[maycocksean]

Originally posted by A_Wanderer
How about the freedom of concience crowd who see that atheistic regimes murdered millions and supressed religious thought?

Good point.

[1stepcloser]

I agree with Elton. He makes some legitimate points.

[AEON]

Originally posted by INDY500


Shut up and sing.

That was a HILARIOUS pic. Where in the world did you find that?

[adrball]

How can anyone take Elton John seriously???

[maycocksean]

Originally posted by 1stepcloser
I agree with Elton. He makes some legitimate points.

I'm sorry but no he really doesn't. Logically, religion does not inevitably lead to prejudice against gays (I'd be willing to accept that it could lead to prejudice against those not a part of the religion, so yes religion could foment certain types of prejudice--but not all). Can someone tell me what aspect of religion makes it inevitable that there will be hatred for gays? ESPECIALLY if you believe that religion is a man-made creation, you're going to have a hard time making your case.

Religion can be used as a convenient cloak for prejudice: "I don't like this so God doesn't like it either" but that hardly means religion is the source of the prejudice.

[INDY500]

Originally posted by 1stepcloser
I agree with Elton. He makes some legitimate points.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try

[Ormus]

Originally posted by maycocksean
I'm sorry but no he really doesn't. Logically, religion does not inevitably lead to prejudice against gays (I'd be willing to accept that it could lead to prejudice against those not a part of the religion, so yes religion could foment certain types of prejudice--but not all). Can someone tell me what aspect of religion makes it inevitable that there will be hatred for gays? ESPECIALLY if you believe that religion is a man-made creation, you're going to have a hard time making your case.

Religion can be used as a convenient cloak for prejudice: "I don't like this so God doesn't like it either" but that hardly means religion is the source of the prejudice.

There's certainly plenty of Christians here who help make Elton's point about religion being homophobic...but then there's thankfully plenty here who contradict his point.

On the other hand, this place isn't exactly a good representation of global demographics, and there's many countries in this world where homophobia is rabidly driven by religion. Where did all these "Defense of Marriage Acts" come from? What about the Muslim world's homophobia?

But, on the other hand, communist countries, traditionally, have hardly been bastions of gay tolerance.

So what came first? Hate or religion? The chicken or the egg?

[BVS]

Originally posted by maycocksean


Religion can be used as a convenient cloak for prejudice: "I don't like this so God doesn't like it either" but that hardly means religion is the source of the prejudice.

This is true, how many people are open minded and have no problem with homosexuality and then get religious later in their lives and then decide they need to condemn homosexuals? Probably very very few.

[1stepcloser]

Originally posted by maycocksean


I'm sorry but no he really doesn't. Logically, religion does not inevitably lead to prejudice against gays (I'd be willing to accept that it could lead to prejudice against those not a part of the religion, so yes religion could foment certain types of prejudice--but not all). Can someone tell me what aspect of religion makes it inevitable that there will be hatred for gays? ESPECIALLY if you believe that religion is a man-made creation, you're going to have a hard time making your case.

Religion can be used as a convenient cloak for prejudice: "I don't like this so God doesn't like it either" but that hardly means religion is the source of the prejudice.

Elton is simply making the point that some religeons are stuck in their draconian ways and they find it very hard to accept that gay people exist. He'd rather live in a world where gay people are accepted for who they are than be banished from certain sections of society because of what some battered old manuscript says. I personally find it shocking that these kind of prejudices still exist outside of facist/nazi viewpoints.

I know not everyone of a religeous persuation despises homosexuals and that some religeons are worse than others but that fact that some people do hate gays purely because of what their religeon says and not because of the conclusions that they themselves have come to means that i think Elton has fair point.

[VintagePunk]

Originally posted by BonoVoxSupastar


This is true, how many people are open minded and have no problem with homosexuality and then get religious later in their lives and then decide they need to condemn homosexuals? Probably very very few.

Evangelical fundamentalists, maybe?

[BVS]

Originally posted by VintagePunk


Evangelical fundamentalists, maybe?

But how many of them weren't homophobic before? That's my point.

[VintagePunk]

Originally posted by BonoVoxSupastar


But how many of them weren't homophobic before? That's my point.

I guess it would be hard to say. Perhaps it's the case that those non-homophobic people would be less likely to subscribe to that particular branch of Christianity later in life.