Elton John on Religion

Several months ago, British singer Elton John said in an interview with the Observer newspaper, "I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it," He further states, "Religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it is not really compassionate." and that organized religion doesn't seem to work. The Reuters article can be found here.

These are statements are quite radical. Banning organized religion? He seems to be referring to not only Christianity, but also Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc. However, he seems to be particularly directing his words toward religions he feels are against homosexuality, like Christianity and Islam, since many organized religions do not have any negative opinions on homosexuality. What he sees as hatred and incompassion obviously upsets him to make such a sweeping statement.

I cannot speak for Muslims or those of other religions, but as a Christian I can tell you that Elton John does not have a proper understanding of Biblical Christianity. The Bible does not teach hatred towards homosexuals; it teaches hatred towards the sin of homosexuality... as well as sins of adultery, murder, lying, greed, lust, idolatry, envy, gossip, etc. All people are sinners, regardless of what kind of sins they do. This is precisely why Jesus Christ came: because of our cosmic rebelion against God's laws we have to die, and we deserve damnation. Jesus died on the cross to pay sin's penalty and rose from the grave, and He said that whoever trusts in Christ as Savior has eternal life. As Jesus said, "He who believes in Me has everlasting life" (Jn 6:47). "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim 1:15). That means He came to offer eternal life to everyone - whether they be self-righteous hypocrites or homosexual activists - and anyone who would believe in Him.

Christianity is based on the person of Jesus Christ. He taught that we should be loving and compassionate to all people, even enemies, but He also taught that sin is wrong, it is necessary for Him to die for us, and we must trust in Him alone as our only way to heaven. When one trusts in Him, that person is a child of God, and enters into a personal relationship with Christ.

Many Christian leaders have recently pointed out that Christianity is really not a religion, i.e. a set of traditions, practices, and regimen that must be followed to be "in." What makes a person a Christian is not in his/her practice or non-practice of Christian traditions, but whether or the person trusts in Christ. The practice of the sacraments - like baptism and communion - and doing good things - like loving people, not gossiping, and abstaining from intercourse with anyone other than husband or wife - all come down to personally living in a way that would please God and getting to know Him better. Jesus even defined eternal life as knowing God, something that starts as soon as you believe, and will be finalized when we die and go to heaven (See Jn 17:3). A Christian won't go to hell if he doesn't good things like God commands (Christians are not perfect, as anyone can deduce!), but we ought to practice righteousness to strengthen our relationship with Christ, to learn more about Him, please Him, and show gratitude towards Him for saving us.

Elton John likely was thinking of Christianity as an "organized religion" that hates gays. This would be a faulty perception in more ways than one: We're not very organized (there are thousands of Christian churches and denominations that follow Christ in different ways and having different systems of theology), we're not a religion (it's a relationship!), and we do not teach hatred of homosexuals or anyone else (but we do teach hatred of evil and sin, and we're sinners ourselves). I hope Mr. John takes new look at religions, and at what Christianity actually teaches; he just might change his mind.