Sir Elton John said organized religion must come to an end. He said it cases hatred despite the many good things about it.
In an interview with the Observer Music Monthly Magazine for a special gay edition, he suggested leaders of major religions to hold a "conclave" to discuss the future and direction we should be heading.
"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 organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."
He repeated the statement he made after 9/11 that all religious leaders should get together and lead the way for everyone.
"I said this after 9/11 and people thought I was nuts. It's all got to be dialog - 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?'
"We are all God's people; we have to get along and the [religious leaders] have to lead the way. If they don't do it, who else is going to do it? They're not going to do it and it's left to musicians or to someone else to deal with it."
He said he knows many gays who love their religions but he will continue to fight for them "whether I do it silently behind the scenes or so vocally that I get locked up."
 |  |  |  |  |  |
