Vatican forgives John Lennon for Jesus quip

Vatican forgives John Lennon for Jesus quip

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Isn't that nice?

Now I don't have to have a second thought about listening to "Eleanor Rigby."

There was a conspiracy on the part of a chunk of American music industry when it became apparent that Beatles were indeed more popular than Jesus and the British invasion got too much attention at the expense of the local artists. Some vinyl got publicly burned, but in more Catholic countries, no display of religious fanaticism took place. Shame on you, Motown.


www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Would you look at that, it only took 42 years for them to forgive him, isn't forgiveness one of the pillars of the Roman Catholic faith? Lol, doesn't look like they practice what they preach.

EMM

[edit on 23-11-2008 by ElectroMagnetic Multivers]

You nailed it right there + no pun intended.



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[edit on 11/23/2008 by stander]

The people infuriated by this were either idiots or sheep or both. That goes for the Vatican or the Nazi-like book and record burning American Christians.

It seems very few people actually take into consideration the context of the remark itself. It wasn't a boast it was a #ing lament. He was actually talking about how in England - yeah, England :not anywhere else, despite so many Americans think every story in the world is about them - the influence of Christianity was on the wane to the extent that pop music had more of an influence. He was right and he's been proved right since. The Beatles mattered more to British youth than Christianity did, that was a fact and all he did was pointed it out.

Also, his comments specifically about Jesus and how it gets twisted by 'Christians' is a classic 'Christian' debating technique which gets used on here:



Does that ring any bells regarding some of the threads and posts on this board? Apparently, 1966 period Lennon was anti-Jesus and 'boasting' about his celebrity.

reply to post by stander

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Very interesting! This is the kind of story that gets my gears going. Lennon (one of my favourites) wrote many songs in his later years directly attacking organized religion. Have they forgiven him for those as well? He also had a well-documented encounter with a UFO (please excuse this wild speculative leap,) and I often wondered if he himself was part of some ET program. Just imagine if you will that the Vatican was aware of this, and in damage-control mode, anticipating perhaps full disclosure, they are now "forgiving" him. Ya, that one's "out-there"...I couldn't help myself.

ahah i bet the kid in this photo feels like a right douchebag now

I'm just certain John is resting a little easier having heard this. (sarcasm intended)

The fact that this formal apology has been issued still tells me that it is ridiculous how much stock was put into this. John was merely pointing out that more people were paying attention to the Beatles than were going to church on Sundays. A joke gone awry and he felt terrible for it. The guys didn't slam him for it, although logically upset by it, but John suffered from immense guilt from this for a long time because he felt he let the guys down.

If the media were anything like it is today back then, the Beatles would have been taboo'd long before they reached the success they did. So many stories were buried that the media could have ran with, but never did.. because the line wasn't crossed during those times.

Typically these stories surrounded John. From having underage women in his room to potential homosexual relations with their manager Brian Epstein, none of this was referenced in the media during their success. I believe the potential relationship with Lennon & Epstein did come out during the end, but little attention was paid at the time. The story with the young girls was squashed mainly because all involved said nothing happened and out of respect the media agreed to leave it alone.

Somehow this apology from the Vatican comes across as self-serving. It serves no purpose to John and his family, so why bother?

Something to keep an eye on.

[edit on 11-23-2008 by chissler]

I am sure Jesus could give a rats ass about John Lennon commenting on his popularity although Jesus was probably hip with the whole idea of giving peace a chance.

The world did not deserve two peace loving hippies in the course of a couple of thousand years so Jesus decided to come and get John via the CIA whom some call the right hand of salvation.

lol

I'm sure he'd send this apology back like his MBE if he could. Actually, I think he'd be pretty dismissive of it and see it for what it actually is: not a lot, really.

Given John's turn around shortly before his passing, I agree that he would probably make little of this announcement. To send it back would be creating waves of negative attention that aren't warranted, so I can only assume that he would ignore it.

I'm curious if Yoko acknowledges it in anyway.