Elton John "would ban religion completely"

From the AP via Boston.com:

"I think religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people," John said in the Observer newspaper's Music Monthly Magazine. "Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays."

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

John also criticized religious leaders for failing to do anything about conflicts around the world.

"Why aren't they having a conclave? Why aren't they coming together?"

John said those in his own field have been similarly lax.

"It's like the peace movement in the '60s. Musicians got through to people by getting out there and doing peace concerts, but we don't seem to do them any more," he said. "If John Lennon were alive today, he'd be leading it with a vengeance."

Of course, governments that "ban religion completely" usually end up murdering huge numbers of their own citizens. It has something to do with the absence of a religious idea called "Thou shalt not kill." The chances of an Elton John realizing this are miniscule, no doubt--he's just a rocket man.

Tags: Elton John, religion, rocket men, organized religion, leftists