Vatican forgives John Lennon for Jesus quip

[babsbunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081122/ts_nm/us_vatican_beatles;_ylt=AmEJRmKcq5BAREVKjZFjqZ9Z.3QA

33 mins ago

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican's newspaper has finally forgiven John Lennon for declaring that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, calling the remark a "boast" by a young man grappling with sudden fame.

The comment by Lennon to a London newspaper in 1966 infuriated Christians, particularly in the United States, some of whom burned Beatles' albums in huge pyres.

But time apparently heals all wounds.

[liberalmuse]

1. There is nothing to forgive.

Lennon was being ironic.

[Bicoastal]

2. Does the Vatican really have nothing better to do?

Seriously.

[geckosfeet]

17. HEY!. Jesus is their trademark - they must protect it's use.

[MorningGlow]

3. Yeah, that was necessary

Now let's take a closer look at the Vatican's stance on birth control, abortion, and all those other bugaboos that really matter, shall we?

[foxfeet]

4. I seriously doubt that John Lennon cares.

or would care, if he were still living.

[DesertFlower]

5. well i'm sure that will

make john happy wherever he is.:sarcasm:

i never understood why it was such a big deal.

[scarletwoman]

6. Hmmm... Earlier this morning I saw a post about how Bob Jones U issued an apology

for its "past" racist policies.

I found some unusually large droppings out in the yard today, have pigs at last achieved flight?

sw

[47of74]

7. What about the Be Sharps?

Have they forgiven the Be Sharps yet for making that the title of their second album?

[louis-t]

9. Be Sharps! Giggety.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Well I still don't forgive the Vatican for their many years of bigotry against women and gays

[lib_wit_it]

36. How about the boy buggery? Can you at least let them off the hook for that? nt

[marylanddem]

10. How progressive of them!

[pepperbear]

11. hey 42 years later and 28 years after his death. right on time. n/t

[Greyhound]

15. How many centuries did it take to apologize for Copernicus?

Is it genetic? They tried to indoctrinate me when I was a little kid and I couldn't buy it even then, I kept asking for explanations until they just kicked me out at the venerable age of 7.

ETA: or was it Galileo?

[Fumesucker]

30. Galileo.. And they executed Giordano Bruno for something similar.. n/t

[lib_wit_it]

37. I tried to be indoctrinated, but they had no answers for my questions and got pissed when I

asked them, so, they lost me. I wanted to believe so I could fit in, but the fact that I knew I was "trying" to believe for that very reason probably marked me as a lost cause.

[Greyhound]

39. That's why I wonder if it is genetic, it just makes no sense.

Apparently most people feel some innate need to believe that there is something watching over them.

One of the great mysteries to me.:shrug:

[Jack Rabbit]

12. One of these days, I might forgive the Vatican for banning books and burning heretics

One of these days, I might.

[DarbyUSMC]

13. Just in time to be too late. What a farce.

[sarge43]

14. Did the Vat get a fax from JC?

"Lighten up, Dudes. Whata I care? The Beatles have cathedrals and Bach Passions in their honor?"

[Gato Moteado]

16. is the vatican still relevent?

if so, why?

[This One]

18. What he said was true, they were more popular than God

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

23. His statement was they were more popular than Jesus

not God. At the time, I was a Christian, and had been taught by my church (Methodist) that God and Jesus were not the same (had a very liberal minister with Unitarian leanings). Personally, I've always found it curiously repugnant to call Jesus God. To me that would be like saying Moses was God or Mohammed was God. Yet nowadays when I get emails from Christian friends this Jesus=God meme seems to be quite common. Was my Christian upbringing in the 50s and 60s exceptional then?

[Book Lover]

32. Do Methodists not believe in the trinity?

I was raised catholic, so obviously I was taught the Jesus=God=Holy Spirit. And if Jesus was not God, what were you taught he was? Thanks.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

19. Mighty white of the authoritarian assholes.

The nicest thing one can say about this is that it didn't take the 450 years that were required to acknowledge that Galileo was right.

[chelsea0011]

20. Have they made a statement on the Inquisition yet?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

21. Funny, I didn't know he needed forgiveness

He was stating what well may have been a fact at the time; the Beatles' fame was international at the time, and not just confined to the Christian world. I figured that out when he said it.

[Canuckistanian]

22. I'm sure if Lennon were alive, he wouldn't give a shit.

And what he said was probably true. They probably WERE more famous than Jesus.

Notice he didn't say better or more loved and respected.

Just famous.

[Metta]

24. He was stating the facts. Too bad for those who took offense. ... blinded by their attachments.

Didn't he say they were more *popular* than Jesus?

[Lugnut]

25. Oh wow. I'm impressed.

:eyes:

[Yavapai]

26. Blasphemy is a victim-less crime!

Who really cares what the vatican forgives?? Fuck the pope and his minions!!!

"All sects of heretics are condemned and various punishments are appointed for them and their accomplices."
--Pope Alexander IV (1254-61)
(Directory for the Inquisitors p. 135)

Just a few of the tortures that 'heretics' went through:
• Skin flayed from head, face and body
• Noses, nipples and breasts pulled off with red hot pinchers
• Fried or boiled alive or roasted on a spit
• Mouth slit back to ears
• Crucified upside down
• Thrown from windows on to spears
• Arms cut off
• Torturous slow burning, soles of feet, then up to ankles, mid-calf, etc.
• Women stripped, hung from trees by their hair and scourged or left hanging by one leg until dead
• Tourniquet placed on head and twisted until eyes came out
• Ears bored out
• Tongue cut out
• Set down (by pulley) into a fire by degrees
• Thrown to dogs
• Hung up by the heels and choked with smoke
• Disemboweled
• Sharp instruments forced under nails and into other body parts
• Racked until their bowels broke out
• Throats cut with butcher knives
• Knocked on the head with axes

For those who dared to be different:

Incarceration, starvation

Psychological torment and terror

Laceration, mutilation, strangulation, suffocation

Crushing, choking, burning, garroting

Slow and agonizing death

I am soooo glad that the vatican has decided to forgive John Lennon, that is so christian of them! :puke:

[riverdeep]

35. Don't forget the Judas Cradle!

Or the more direct approach of simple sawing:

[tinymontgomery]

27. Those albums would

be worth some money today if they kept them in good shape.

[old mark]

28. I believe those boys are circling the drain.

What problems we have today, and what answers we get from the catholic church.

Guys, sell off your holdings and go home.
You don't mean much anymore.
mark

[Bluebear]

29. Oh, at last!!! I've been waiting for this for 40 years! Crying here!!

:eyes:

[rasputin5]

31. Maybe the vatican should hope Jesus will forgive them.

for centuries of assholism.

[Book Lover]

33. He was comparing concert and church attendance

Why the Vatican thinks stating the truth of declining church attendance was an act that was boastful or that requires forgiveness is beyond me.

[TexasObserver]

34. The Vatican forgiving anyone is like Enron letting you off the hook on your debt to them.

The Vatican has been responsible for more evil than any organization in history.

They should be asking forgiveness from the whole world for the past 1700 years.

[Evoman]

38. Pfft...the ghost of John Lennon came to me and told me to tell the Vatican to go fuck themselves.

[Iggo]

40. Yeah. Thanks a million, Vatican.

Little late, fuckers.

Fuck you, Vatican.

Have a nice day!