A Response to Elton John's Suggestion that Religion Should be Banned

Elton John made headlines this month when he suggested that organized religion should be banned because it makes people hate gays.

Such a call should be occasion for Christian introspection, not because it is issued by a world-renowned celebrity such as Sir Elton, who apparently has a record of histrionics against religion, journalists and others, but because we find ourselves at a cultural crossroads.

With momentum of the gay privileges movement apparently growing, the future of American culture is hanging in the balance, and people like John who have the ear of the media will have an inordinate sway over public opinion.

The question that should concern Christians, however, is how well have we articulated the message that it is the sin, not the sinner, that we oppose?

For there is nothing in Christianity that supports hatred of anybody. The phrase "for God so loved the world" means that anybody living in this world is loved by God. The New Testament also makes clear that everybody sins: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

Yet this doesn't mean that we are to be amoral null quantities. Christ's message was not one of "go along to get along": "If salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

But the Christian message of loving confrontation gets lost in the secular world, partly because the irreligious resent being told when they're wrong, partly because Christians are humans who can get angry at some of the more blatant agendas of the gay privileges movement, and partly because the church itself falls short of its own standards.

What moral ground can we Christians stand on when we see some churches endorsing gay marriages and actively homosexual clergy? The Catholic Church's allowing gay clergy to run rampant and prey on children is a travesty that has brought worldwide shame to God's people. The hypocrisy of prominent ministers like Ted Haggard who live double lives does grave injury to the cause of righteousness.