RIGHT ON, ELTON JOHN ! Religion has caused more harm than good and is STILL causing more harm than good. (Elton was my favorite singer in high school and for about a decade after till he turned "mellow" and started losing his voice.)LONDON (AFP) - Religion should be outlawed because it lacks compassion and promotes hatred of homosexuals, gay pop star Elton John said in an interview.
Well...I can tell you why. Elton. It's because religious leaders believe that there MUST be an end of the world to "fulfill the prophecy" of the "final Armageddon" and the final "judgement" by their mythological sky daddy. So, looking for help via religious leaders is a asking them to give up their belief that a “final battle” will happen.
The singer was speaking in a special "gay edition" of The Observer newspaper's Music Monthly Magazine, where he shared his views on subjects ranging from being a music icon to Prime Minister Tony Blair's stance on the Iraq war.At a time when religion is the subject of fierce debate in Britain over the right to wear the Muslim veil and other faith symbols, John complained there was a general lack of leadership from spiritual leaders.
"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. From my point of view, I would ban religion completely," he was quoted as saying.
"Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate. The world is near escalating to World War Three and where are the leaders of each religion?
"Why aren't they having a conclave? Why aren't they coming together? I said this after 9/11 and people thought I was nuts. Instead of more violence why isn't there a meeting of religious leaders?" he said. WHOLE STORY LINK
21 comments:
Snap! I posted on this today too.....
Difficult to do though....[grin].
The Soviet Union tried it and failed. I estimate with LOTS of effort you could probably reduce religion to a very small minority or die-hards in.... maybe 10 generations or so.
Or maybe it'll gradually die out of its own accord - though somehow I don't think it will....
Or maybe it'll gradually die out of its own accord - though somehow I don't think it will....
cyberkitten - well, other mythologies died out eventually, so don't give up hope. Xianity may be winding down, too since it has evolved into the whole "genie in the lamp" mentality, amusement-park-type mega churches, circus-type attractions like TBN provides with ladies in big pink hairdos, guys with extremely bad comb-overs because of their own extreme vanity and love of themselves. Xian churches are mere country clubs for cliques to get together and have their little pity parties and talk about their imaginary friend and delusions while they eat their buffet and pot luck dinners.
Now Islam is on the rise and that will be the next one for non-believers to have to deal with as their theology expands and finds its way into the political arena. It's always something. One craziness replaces another. I think humans must be inherently insane to greater or lesser degrees.
I think we should ban Elton John or at least force him to get a makeover.
MQM - He does look pretty bad now, doesn't he? He is trying too hard to look "cool". He should definitely lip sync to his old stuff.
Rosie is saying the same thing. Basically shut them up. But Rosie, we live in a free country.
Yes, we do live in a free country, and if xians, Mormons and JWs, etc. would keep their religions to themselves, there wouldnt be a problem. People in the USA are free to follow whatever religion they choose (or not to follow any religion), but many abuse this freedom. Xians and muslims are not satisfied with being able to belief and worship whatever they choose. They rent billboards, put up thousand foot crosses, knock on the doors of our private homes to "witness" to sleepy "heathens", it's in our face every single day...and then they want to insert it into our SECULAR government. It is a constant struggle to retain separation of chuch and state. It is used for justification for wars, and violence and every other "evil" thing.
The fanatics are all too common; they can't even tell the difference between a day to honor American soldiers of all faiths and what they'd like Vets Day to be: one honoring Xian crusaders. I had the misfortune to cover such an event yesterday, where some asshat thought it was OK to proselytize blatantly while wearing a US Navy uniform in a public school.
I had the misfortune to cover such an event yesterday, where some asshat thought it was OK to proselytize blatantly while wearing a US Navy uniform in a public school.
Jay - and yet we atheists are supposed to shut up and remain silent. No way, no more. More and more of us are coming out in the opening and saying ENOUGH of this religious bullshit.
"Difficult to do" AND quite unnecessary; no matter how viscerally appealing!
Not all the nutters are totally nuts, don't ya know, and in the United States (at any rate) the 1rst Amendment guaranties, quite morally and rationally IMO, each person's right to Believe it or Don't.
As Jay says, the fanatics are all too common, but thanks to folks such as those in my linkage, I'm with Stardust and will maintain hope. It's an extended, long range hope which I've no expectation of seeing come to fruition in our lifetimes. It is nonetheless quite substantial.
Still, sing it Elton! lol! Even if ya have gone raspy with age.
Stardust, could you please click on my link and tell me if you ever encountered anything like that with your blog?
It's funny, because I was in it a few minutes ago and it was working fine, then when I tried to go into it just now, all I got was page filled with code.
Maybe I will try later and see if it is fixed by itself.
Tommy - your link seems fine to me.
Really, then it must be something funny with my computer. Thanks for looking. I will try rebooting.
Religion is like a powerful drug. It distorts the mind and reality.
The funny part of it is that believers are hoping to get a big, big reward for their beliefs which brings the whole thing back to narrow self-interest and greed anyway! Cheers!
uh-oh tommy got the code crap at your site now! Good luck with that. Hope you haven't been "attacked".
Hi Stardust!
I appear to be back in business. I just selected republish entire blog and it reappeared. I closed out of my internet connection and went back on again and my blog was there. Whew! what a relief.
While I considered it was possible that someone hacked me, I can't imagine I am important enough to be worth it.
Thanks again.
I agree with Comrade Elton completely. We must send anybody who has thoughts about the transcendent to the gulag for the sake of The Party, The People, and The Common Good. Comrade Lenin has made this abundantly clear. Comrade daniel is right! Religion is the opiate of the masses!
tommy - glad your blog is fine now. I now know what to try if it ever happens to me.
jason,
I think you are just trying to start a flame war.
Strange since you are extremely paranoid of muslims and their fanatical religion in many of your posts and comments here and elsewhere. ;)
I understand where Elton John is coming from. He is gay and he perceives religion as providing cover for bigotry and discrimination against him and other gays, which sadly is correct.
Of course, religion can't and won't be banned, nor should it. It is a matter of constraining its extremist elements and denying it power over others.
In the end, you cannot prevent people from believing in things that are not true, no matter how ridiculous those beliefs are. We all still read articles in the news about gullible people who are bilked out of their lifesavings by soi-disant psychics.
Of course, religion can't and won't be banned, nor should it. It is a matter of constraining its extremist elements and denying it power over others.
Tommy - that's exactly true. Though I opened with Right on, Elton, it was more for him speaking up against the harm that religion causes. I support freedom of religion and freedom FROM religion and like I said, if religious folks didn't try to push their beliefs onto me or into my SECULAR government there wouldn't be all this as much anger towards religion. (Though we still would be angry about stoning, head chopping, KKK, and other atrocities committed in the name of religion.)
stardust--
The issue here is freedom. You can be angry with rage about religious people, and no one will stop you. However, people also have the right to dislike homos. Saying religion ought to be banned isn't only an emotional expression, it is a legal prescription. Comrade Elton wants political correctness in the private sphere enforced by the government. Within government institutions like the Academy, even conjecturing that homosexuals have something wrong with them is thoughtcrime in collectivst-liberal circles. They want to make it a crime for anyone else to critize the homosexual agenda.
Interestingly, gays have more rights in Christian societies than they have almost anywhere else on the planet. When Comrade Fidel and Comrade Che took over Cuba, they put all of the homosexuals, who were seen as symbols of bourgeois decadence, in Auschwitz-like forced labor camps surrounded with barbed wire and machine guns, with signs about that said ""Work Will Make Men Out of You." Societies ruled by Islamists routinely hang individuals for homosexuality.
In short, Elton John has gone completely Mr. Garrison-style and needs to shut the hell up. Gay rights are supported in almost every Western society. including the United States. Gay rights don't extend to groups like NAMBLA, contrary to what enlightened morons like Allen Ginsberg have believed. Nor do they extend to avant-garde ideas about marriage.
Societies ruled by Islamists routinely hang individuals for homosexuality.
Ummm....he is an Englishman, and in England where Islam is a rapidly growing religion. Should he shut up until it's too late?
He has a right to state his opinions just like anyone else, doesn't he?
I know you are anti-gay, but here's some things to read:
Muslims Join Far-Right Christians Against Gays in Scotland
Scotland on Sunday
Also...from PBS's FRONTLINE
Here's another follow up from a Gay perspective in Britain.
Elton's comments: "self-evidently true"
***
"However, Sir Elton's suggestion that religion be banned is unworkable."
Word, eh.
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