Elton John Speaks Up

I'm a big fan of Elton John's music. I think he has a great voice and tremendous talent.

He's just made news by making some very inflammatory comments. He (among other things) said:

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"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. From my point of view, I would ban religion completely,"

"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?

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Well, anyone who knows me well - knows I was brought up in a very religious family. We went to church 2 times on Sunday - 1 time on Wednesday and for a while we were even going out on Thursday doing what the Bible says to do ("Go ye into the world and teach all nations") but on a local basis. From the fifth grade until the 12th grade - I went to a Christian School. So, with this background, you can bet I have some opinions on religion.

I find that in my life, I have the same struggles that I hear Catholic Alter Boys have (without the Priest's sexual abuse). I'm constantly struggling between the things that were drilled into me regarding the Bible and how I think life is supposed to be lived. I personally don't believe that the christian Bible is a complete rendering of God's word. I believe completely in God - as a supreme being and as the creator of the universe. But - I can't just believe the Christian Bible as a perfect - flawless rendering of the word of God.

But - I'm getting a little off track here. The blog entry is about Elton's comments.

Let's look at what he said specifically

"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people"

Yes and No in my opinion. I've said for years that religion is the worst thing to happen to God. I'm sure that there's a lot of different defiinitions of religion, but it seems to me that a religion is simply a group of people who think similarly when it comes to the interpretation of their Bible (or Koran or whatever). That is exactly where the problem comes in - interpretation. There are so many ways to interpret any grouping of words ESPECIALLY when those words were originaly written in Greek and Hebrew and then translated to the King's english in the 16th century.

So, I personally think that the Christian Bible indeed says that homosexuality is a sin. It does NOT however tell anyone to hate homosexuals. This is where many Christians get a bad name. The Bible tells them to love their neighbors as themselves and it tells them to "judge not - lest ye be judged". Yet, you have so many professed christians who treat homosexuals as lesser people. It's not the Christian's job to do this. It's God's job to handle this.

Religion is like any tool. It can be used improperly. A gun would be a good analogy. Like guns - there's people (Elton in this case) who think the way to fix a misused tool is to ban it. It's true (in my opinion) that guns don't kill people - PEOPLE kill people. The same view can be taken of religion. Religion isn't bad - people who misuse religion are bad (at least in that realm).

Religion is good for all societies. Even people who don't believe in God should see this. Religion is a "self regulating" societal tool. Religious people (truly religious people) are not the people that we spend our time and money chasing down and using our legislative, enforcement and penal systems for. They are the bedrock of our country (I'll not address the world in this blog entry) and they are for the most part "self governing". What I mean by this is that it would not matter if it were against society's law or not to kill, rape or rob someone - it's for sure that truly religious people would not do this - as a rule. (There are exceptions to every rule of course).

Now, here's the rub: What does truly religious mean? Well in my view - it's certainly not those idiots like Jim Baker and more recently - that moron Ted Haggard. I think there's a hotter hell for people like this. Truly religious means (to me) the people who really live their lives according to their religion. In the U.S. - that's mostly good people. Of course - there are parts of the world (including the U.S.) where religions have been hijacked to suit the needs of the persons practicing it (or not).

Elton also said: "It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate".

You know - I don't think this exact statement is true - but if it added one word = CAN (just before the word "turn(s)") - then I do believe it to be an accurate statement. I've seen it over and over again with my own eyes - followers of a religion - being exactly that - FOLLOWERS. They are willing to believe something simply because a person standing in front of them (who says God spoke to him/her) says it. That is where religion gets dangerous.

Again, all this is just my opinion. I certainly don't have the answers.