You may or may not have read the article regarding Elton John's comment on religion or better yet organized religion. It's below. I'll let you read it.
LONDON, England (AP) -- Organized religion fuels anti-gay discrimination and other forms of bias, pop star Elton John said in an interview published Saturday.
"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."
At first glance I rolled my eyes at the article. Being a Christian, of course I was a little offended. Then I thought about it and realized that Elton was right on so many levels. As Christians we have failed to show him the love of Christ. Donald Miller wrote a book called "Blue Like Jazz." It tells of a time when he was in college at a very liberal school in the Northwest. He and his buddies dressed up like monks and set up a confession booth on campus. A few people stopped by out of curiosity and found that Miller and his friends weren't there to take confessions but to give them. They started by asking for forgiveness from them for the acts of Christians throughout time (Crusades, 1960's etc). They then asked for forgiveness for not being loving, for not feeding the poor, for not loving those who persecute them, basically for not representing Christ well. As a faith, I believe we are at fault because the biggest impression we have left on people is our bigotry and intolerance. Not love and compassion. People have a strong reaction to what they see on television (the TV evangelist, religious groups marching pushing their beliefs). The few have changed the perception of the many. Basically that sucks, but it's perception and we've done nothing to change it.
So to wrap up, I apologize for myself and my faith for not loving our neighbors, for not feeding the poor, or clothing the hungry, and finally for not representing who Christ really was. Please understand that those of us who claim to bring Christians are just big messes themselves still struggling with sin.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I totally agree. I am actually reading Blue Like Jazz right now and when I read that chapter about their confession booth, God really spoke to me and I wholeheartedly agree that as a faith, we have not been representing Christ well. I really hate that people view Christians (the whole) as idealistic, judging, freaks, but in actuality, we are human just like everyone else. I once saw a shirt that said "Recovering Hypocrite" and I thought about how true that statement is. I am a recovering hypocrite and it is only by God's grace that I am changing into what God has for me to be...that is...be more Christ-like. Its not easy, but God never said it would be. He just gives us the strength to do so if we rely on Him for strength and sustinance. We do serve an awesome God.
Great post. I fully agree with what you are saying.
Post a Comment