Elton John: Organized Religion Fuels homophobia and other discrimination

2006.11.13
Elton John: organized religion fuels homophobia, other discrimination

LONDON (AP) - Organized religion fuels anti-gay discrimination and other
forms of bias, pop star Elton John said. ``I think religion has always
tried to turn hatred toward gay people,'' John said in the Observer
newspaper's Music Monthly Magazine in an interview published Saturday.
``Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.''

``But there are so many people I know who are gay and love their
religion,'' said the singer, who exchanged vows in December in a civil
union ceremony with Canada's David Furnish. ``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.''

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