Today, Elton John is quoted in the NY Times as claiming that, "I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it."

Then,

"Religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people. It turns people into hateful lemmings and is not really compassionate....The reality is that organized religion doesn't seem to work."

John is a good musician, and although he has a point, I wouldn't exactly call him one of the world's great thinkers.

I admit it, okay. I'm a hypocrite. This weekend, I was partying with the guys on Saturday night, and in Church on Sunday afternoon. The Church and I diverge on 3 points. I am believe abortion should be legal, but not widely practiced. I believe in birth control - and if I could just get the Pope to agree, I'm sure #1 would be less of a problem. And I'm, as they say, "in with the gays." In fact, besides Cyndi Lauper, I'm probably more pro-gay than many gays. I completely understand where John is coming from, if the Pope said that all people with Cerebral Palsy were evil - I'd be pissed. (Although, The Pope actually doesn't say gay people are bad - he says gay sex is bad. Actually, the Bible says SODOMY is bad, so I hope all religious people haven't had hetro anal sex - or the be in BIG TROUBLE).

But, I think it's crazy to throw the baby out with the bath water. Religion has done MANY aweful things. But, it has also made people compassionate and genous. Religion has helped the poor and immigrants. Religion has helped people in uncountable ways. Religion isn't flawless, but nothing manmade is.

Bush claims he's pro-life. Yet they kill you in Texas for stealing candy. Yesterday, I loved the headline on the Catholic paper: Vatican Opposed to Killing Saddam. Now. that's pro-life!