Elton John Says Jesus Christ Was Gay

He's made some crazy statements in the past, but pop singer Elton John now claims Jesus Christ was gay.

In an interview scheduled to be published by Parade magazine this Sunday, John says, "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems."

This of course seems absurd coming from a man who in 2006 said, “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people,”

Regardless of the incongruity of such remarks, John is further quoted as saying according to FoxNews.com (h/t Story Balloon):

"On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East -- you're as good as dead."

Compare this to what NewsBusters reported in 2006:

Associated Press reports openly gay pop-music legend Elton John offered his opinions on religion:

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 towards gay people,” John said in the Observer newspaper's Music Monthly Magazine. “Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.” [...]

Here's the larger statement in context from the actual interview in the Observer Music Monthly, as Shears said he likes integrated dance clubs with both gay and straight people, and John replied:

I just find it more human. We should all be together. I've got this really naive idea of what life should be like - it's an idealistic idea but it's completely integrated. We can't keep thinking of gay people as being ostracised; we can't keep thinking of Muslim people as being [ostracised] because of the fundamentalism that occurs in Islam. Muslim people have to do something about speaking up about it. We can't judge a book by its cover.

From my point of view I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it. 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 organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.

So, if religion turns hatred towards gay people, how could Jesus have been gay?

I'm sure media members that cover John's statements in the coming days will ask this question.