Elton John is in the news

Elton John has hit the news recently with a comment that religion should be banned. - Elton John and the Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears discuss what it means to be a gay star, just what constitutes a gay sense of humour - and why everyone is welcome in their world. -
says a headline in the Guardian Unlimited -

Prior to the banning religion statement Elton John had 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 Christian people I know who are gay and love their religion ...

Italics = prying1 who wonders at the contradiction in this statement???

Elton John's words about banning religion in context:

... We should all be together. I've got this really naive idea of what life should be like - it's an idealistic idea but it's completely integrated. We can't keep thinking of gay people as being ostracised; we can't keep thinking of Muslim people as being [ostracised] because of the fundamentalism that occurs in Islam. Muslim people have to do something about speaking up about it. - This I agree with - We can't judge a book by its cover.

From my point of view I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it. 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.

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]. 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?'

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His opening lines about being naive are proven in his last paragraph about the leaders of each religion having a conclave. "It's all got to be dialogue... "

There are no LEADERS of each religion except the Catholic Church and maybe the Dali Lama. In the Muslum religion there is a myriad of local Imams and such but which of them are considered THE LEADERS of the Muslum religion? All of them by their local congregations.

Christianity has so many branches and disagreements on such little issues that it would be impossible to gather them together and decide who is in and who is out. Many of those that the Main Stream Media calls "Christian Leaders" are rejected as such by the majority of Christians... Tony Campolo and Hillary Clinton come to mind...

Hindoo and Buddhist religions are pretty much the same way by what I gather.

Then, if and when, they get to the meeting who is going to lead it?

Elton?

I think not.

The meeting would be filled with a bunch of people poining fingers and claiming the others are wrong. Plus you have the problem of definitions of words. For example the Muslums and Mormans and Jehovah's Witnesses and Hindoos and Buddhists and Catholics and Protestants all have a different definition of the word 'salvation' and even the need for it...

No Elton. A Holy Conclave would not work. You are as you said, "naive"...

As far as the religion is filled with hate towards gays aspect of your statements Christianity as I know it simply disagrees with the gay lifestyle. Because a person (religious or not) says, "I do not think that the word 'Marraige' should be redefined to denote a relationship between two men or two women they are tagged as hate filled.

Often times by those that are filled with hate towards religion...

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Think about it. To ban religion would really cause troubles in this world.
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I think it would be easier to ban toupees than it would be to ban religion.
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It's interesting that Elton John would say something like this, since he is probably the poster child for how we can accept a person who is gay, even if we don't accept their chosen lifestyle.

In the 70s he announced he was gay. For most it was no suprise at all... but his career did take a minor hit for a couple of albums. However, most of his fans (including myself) put all that aside and continued to buy his albums and go to his concerts. Does he think he has sold 100s of millions of albums and concert tickets and not one of those went to "hate filled" religious people?

He apparently hold hatred towards us that most of us don't return to him.

The thing is, Homosexuality itself has become a religion for many.

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Hindoo and Buddhist religions are pretty much the same way by what I gather.

It's 'Hindu', and the same way regarding what? Hinduism has gods that people worship, and Buddhism doesn't really have any gods. Yes, we have statues and images of The Buddha, but we don't worship them. We bow to them out of respect - the Buddha was a man who attained the ultimate enlightenment and that's worthy of my respect - but we don't worship him in the traditional sense.

I'm assuming that you mean the same way regarding homosexuality, but I'm not going to address that before you verify that yes, that's what you meant.

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"poster child for how we can accept a person who is gay"

You can't just accept people for people, gay or straight?

"The thing is, Homosexuality itself has become a religion for many."

Are you for real? What exactly does that statement mean?

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You can't just accept people for people, gay or straight?

It was Elton John that made his sexuality an issue, not his fans. He made it a point to announce he was gay, he wasn't "outed" or forced to in any way. Even with the "hit" his career took, his albums still went gold and platinum and his concerts sold out. We (his fans) accepted him for the music he made, and didn't make much of his newly announced sexuality.

So how do you ask, "you can't accept people for people, gay or straight?" when it was HIMSELF who was the one who made it matter.

"The thing is, Homosexuality itself has become a religion for many."

Are you for real? What exactly does that statement mean?

Are YOU for real? In our nation today there isn't much of anything that the Gay activists haven't insisted they should be a part. Not just as a person but as a Gay person. Irish people were never asked their sexual orientation in order to march in New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade, but that wasn't good enough, they weren't happy until they forced the organizers to allow them to march under a Gay banner.

In Utah, the 24th of July is a state holiday. It is the day the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Every year it is celebrated with picnics, rodeos, and parades. People dress up in period costumes to march. Connestoga wagons, handcarts, oxcarts and other period vehicles are the main theme. Again, no one asked anyone their sexual orientation to be part of any of the festivities in any Utah City.

A few years ago some of the Gay Rights groups petitioned to march in the Salt Lake City 24th of July Parade... lead by a banner announcing their sexual orientation.

Every major city (and most minor) have Gay Pride days... Schools are under pressure to have clubs for Gay people, there are even activists pushing for Seperate Schools for gay people, religious groups are celebrating the ordination of Gay leaders...

You tell me how the activists haven't made their homosexuality a religion? They proclaim it from the rooftops and proselyte it with the zeal of any missionary. Being gay seems to be the end all, be all to their exisence... just like God is to a believer.

The difference being... If I refuse to acknowledge someone's religion, it's ok... but if I fail to acknowledge that a gay activist is gay... watch out!

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Dharmagrl - 'Hindoo', although archaic, is an acceptable spelling. - - Put back into context I meant that there is really not any specific "leader" as the Catholic Church has. From what I THINK I know (I've never studied up on either one of them) there are many sects and 'denominations' in both religions. How many "leaders" are there? Who gets to decide who goes to this conclave Elton proposes. - - Which ones get to address the crowd or do all of them from all religions.

And after they all meet they will gather in a big circle, sing Kum Bah Ya and meditate until the wicked on earth change their evil ways. IMAGINE that...

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Thanks ParaTed2k for the original comment and clarifying for Dan Greene the questions he had.

I thought the statement made by Elton "Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays. But there are so many Christian people I know who are gay and love their religion ..." was so telling that the man is confused about religion and it's true purpose.

Of course there is the arguement about religion being man reaching up to God while Christianity is God reaching down to man...

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religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays

People who want to hate gay people will hate gay people, whether they're religious or not. Religious people who hate gay people often quote verses from their Holy Books, and will interpret them in certain ways to back up their hatred toward gays. Generally speaking, religious people who don't hate gay people will interpret the same verses slightly differently and wouldn't feel impelled to hate gay people because of what their Holy Books said.

Religion isn't to blame. People are.

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