Pop star Elton John is featured on the cover of Parade magazine this week. So I guess Parade is still around. He’s ostensibly on the cover to talk about how he’s a better person now than he was before. But he makes news for an unconventional religious idea he puts forth.
Many news outlets, including USA Today and the Washington Post have quoted or otherwise given the interview coverage.
Soraya Roberts at the Daily News writes it up as follows:
Elton John has never been a big fan of religion.
“Religion promotes hatred and spite against gays,” the openly gay performer told the Observer’s Music Monthly magazine in 2006. “From my point of view, I would ban religion completely.”
So it comes as a surprise that in Parade magazine this week, John claims that one of the central figures of Christianity is in fact a homosexual.
“I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems,” he tells Parade. “On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him.”
It’s a perfectly fine write-up and the interview certainly is newsworthy. But is Jesus Christ really best described as “one of the central figures of Christianity”?
Observers have long noted how statements or images viewed as blasphemous by Muslims tend to receive less media coverage and receive a much stronger reaction than blasphemous statements about Christianity.
There’s no doubt that Sir Elton John’s views are considered blasphemous by most Christians. I’m sure that Christians won’t respond by rioting or anything, but that doesn’t mean that the media should treat the offending statement cavalierly.
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Comments (17) |
February 19, 2010, at 1:29 pm
I’m not sure what you are asking the reporter to do in this case or in general? Perhaps require that any controversial statement made by someone is always accompanied by an “on the other hand” quote? Or do you have something else in mind?
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February 19, 2010, at 1:40 pm
The quote about Jesus being “one of the central figures of Christianity” reminded me of an old Letterman intro, back in the days when not only Dave but the city of New York got a different humorous description every night:
“From New York … one of the most exciting cities in the Tri-State area ….”
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February 19, 2010, at 1:42 pm
It is deeply blasphemous, yes, but we react less sharply because we consider the source. The article itself pokes fun at Sir Elton of the Funny Glasses, noting that his statement about Jesus “comes as a surprise” given his previous denunciation of religion as the cause of hatred of homosexuals.
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February 19, 2010, at 1:45 pm
JERRY:
Actually, isn’t Sir Elton’s point of view now somewhat common in academic circles on the mainstream left? He may just be a liberal Anglican.
So maybe that’s the hard news angle.
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February 19, 2010, at 3:27 pm
So, is Elton John one of the central figures in Elton John’s career?
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February 19, 2010, at 4:33 pm
What Jerry asked in Comment #1.
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February 19, 2010, at 4:41 pm
Maybe I’m out of touch with the academic intellectual left, but Jesus as gay is not something I’ve heard much about
But I’m really asking Mollie to say what she thought should have been put in the article. I find it more interesting when there is not only a critique of a story, but also either a pointer to an alternative or a statement about how the story should be covered.
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February 19, 2010, at 7:48 pm
I’m often in complete agreement with your posts, Molly, and the “one of the central figures in Christianity” line is laughable. But that aside, I have to agree with Jerry — how should they have covered this differently?
I would also ask - how are we using the word “blasphemy” here? I had a conversation with my undergrad students recently and they seemed to think the word describes any statement of disbelief in or disagreement with a received doctrine… clearly too broad a definition. But is John doing anything more than disagreeing with mainstream Christian opinion? Is he doing a pop-theological spin on the Beloved Disciple?
Maybe the reporter should have asked him to expand a bit on where he gets these ideas, but the determination of whether an interview subject is making blasphemous statements should probably not be left to journalists. When Muslims riot in protest against cartoons of the Prophet, then journalists can report that riot and safely conclude that those people consider the cartoon “blasphemy.” Likewise, if Christians like Dan consider the statement “deeply blasphemous,” they can make a public protest (I would admittedly prefer a non-violent one) and the press can say “These people found Elton John’s statement blasphemous” without making that judgment for them.
Of course, I’m an openly gay Catholic who wrote a letter to the NYT defending a recent revival Terence McNally’s “Corpus Christi” when it was being attacked by the Catholic League. I know that people often forget we are here (and some would prefer to forget), but personally, I’m no more bothered by the claim that Jesus was Gay than by the counter claim that he was heterosexual.
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February 19, 2010, at 8:15 pm
one thing to remember is the source of the story. parade magazine seems to be the place celebrities go to show middle america that they are good, down to earth people even though they are rich and famous. this may be elton john’s attempt to reach out to a new audience.
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February 19, 2010, at 9:54 pm
Folks:
MZ’s primary point about the journalism is the crazy “central figure” remark.
But, let me say this: If a student turned this story in, yes, I would have asked for some kind of reaction quote. That would certainly happen — no matter who said it — in an offensive story about Islam or another major world religion.
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February 19, 2010, at 9:57 pm
Sorry for not being more clear. Yeah, my primary beef (and that of the readers submitting the story) was the “one of the central figures” line.
But also, I just think it’s worth noting how lightly something like this is treated compared to the alleged blasphemy of other religious figures.
We sort of “joke” about blasphemy against Jesus in a way that we wouldn’t if Mr. John had gone off on Mohammed.
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February 19, 2010, at 10:32 pm
Blasphemy is probably too strong a term for this.
I’m a bit confused, though: are we to take it that Jesus was crucified as an example of homophobia, or just that He was a really nice guy who happened to be gay and was killed by the Romans for going around saying let’s all be nice?
I know we’re not supposed to take seriously that whole Son of God bit (except insofar as we are all sons and daughters of God and are divine within), but I’d like to be clear whether it was Jesus the Revolutionary executed by the Man, Jesus the Wisdom Teacher executed by the religious establishment, or Jesus the Gay Martyr executed by institutional homophobia we’re celebrating come the next memorial of the Easter Event this March (when the disciples felt the enduring memory of Jesus within them as the true meaning of resurrection and not the ‘conjuring trick with bones’ meaning).
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February 19, 2010, at 10:36 pm
Admittedly, I am no journalist,so forgive me if I’m being dense, but as a close reader of newspapers and someone who teaches religious studies I’m curious about your statement tmatt. Would you insist that, among the reaction quotes, the student get at least one from a gay/lesbian Christian? (I don’t think Elton John counts, since he makes pretty clear that he does not consider himself Christian.) If not, wouldn’t that student leave the impression that all Christians share the same judgment that his statement is “blasphemy? Given all that has happened in the Anglican Communion and at the ELCA convention this summer (not to mention the decades-long existence of organizations like Dignity, etc.)would such an impression be an accurate reflection of the state of Christianity in this country?
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February 20, 2010, at 2:14 pm
Mollie seems to be inferring that it’s “blasphemy” that Sir Elson calls Jesus “one of the central figures” of Christianity (which is really just hilarious.) While others seems to be taking issue rather with his saying that Jesus was “compassionate, intelligent, gay” meaning I suppose “only” those things and not as believers hold it God (which in fact Muslims probably find blasphemous but if recent events are indicative, not as upsetting as mocking Mohammed in cartoons).
As for “academic circles on the mainstream left” I’m not even sure where such things can be found!
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February 22, 2010, at 9:03 am
Actually, *everybody* — not just Jesus — is gay in academic circles on the mainstream left. About all that academic circles on the mainstream left do these days is announce that everybody is gay — Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Batman, Robin, whomever you got … except, of course, the Prophet Mohammed.
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February 22, 2010, at 3:32 pm
Any Christian should find this blasphemous and offensive and be prepared to explain why so.
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February 24, 2010, at 4:54 am
When I read this piece in the news, I was immediately offended. Not surprised, but offended. I think the first thing we need to do is stop taking Elton John seriously. What I mean by that is that his remark about Jesus’ sexual orientation is clearly not intended to enrich the academic or theological atmosphere, but to rattle cages. Let’s not delude ourselves or get lost on this tangent. The man is not simply an unbeliever—he just said he would ban all religion if he could. Although he definitely exudes a respect for Jesus’ noble and virtuous character—which is touching—any Christian would know that saying Jesus is gay can only be blasphemous, as homosexual acts are still considered to be sin in most churches in the West and every church outside of it. We all know perfectly well that that is Elton’s primary motive for saying it—it’s not because he’s spent years carefully meditating on whether Jesus was gay and now he is sure about it. What he said is really is no different from saying that Jesus and Mary Magdalene got in on—not only would it be sin, it would be contrary to what Christians understand of God’s nature. Nothing in the Bible has anything to say on Jesus’ preference one way or the other. I am unaware if there is any official church position on this, but I highly doubt it. I doubt it because any Christian or student of Christianity would know right away that this is absolutely a non-issue. There is no scriptural support for the notion that Jesus was either straight or gay. I have never wasted a minute (ok maybe 1) wondering if Jesus was ever attracted to women. I’m certainly not going to wonder the opposite. Jesus was a man but he was also the Son of God, which means that we was GOD. Have any of us ever stopped to think about God’s sexual orienation? Of course not, because He is our Creator. It is as unthinkable as tyring to imagine your own parents sexually desiring you. With Jesus it is the same; he was a man, yes, but he was no ordinary man. As he says in John 8:58 “Before Abraham was, I AM”
As for comparisons to the deference that Islam and the Prophet Muhammed receive—if Christians got only 25% as upset as Muslims do over blasphemy, the media would sure as hell clean up its act.
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