And on behalf of John Lennon, I say: "Kiss my ass, Vatican..."
(Though I'm sure John would not have said exactly that.)
A Vatican newspaper has forgiven the late English singer John Lennon for saying four decades ago that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
In an article praising The Beatles, L'Osservatore Romano said Lennon had just been showing off.
Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 - at the height of Beatlemania - that he did not know which would die out first, Christianity or rock and roll.
At the time, the comparison sparked controversy in the US.
... which then led to the burning of all the Beatles albums in the streets across the Bible Belt.
story from the BBC
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Update: Follow up post with some numbers and logic laid out.
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Oh good, they forgave a dead person for an act that happened over 40 years ago and which the person may or may not have regretted. How generous of the the Church. Maybe they can work on forgiving the Jews now for alledgedly calling for the death of their imaginary, imortal leader some 2000 years ago - an act that without which, they never could have been "saved."
If John Lennon was comparing his popularity while he was alive to the popularity of Jesus when Jesus was alive (if Jesus ever even lived), he was of course absolutely correct. I think the biggest audience Jesus was ever supposed to have had (and this is highly questionable) was a few thousand. Of course Jesus did not have the advantage of TV.
On the other hand if he was comparing his popularity with Jesus in Today's world, then I think Jesus is a clear winner. After all how many people would be willing to throw down their lives, or beat themselves bloody, or walk for hours on bare knees on stone roads for John Lennon.
From one sailor to another - I don;t know about that!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZW9Fgisp0
Look at pics starting around 20 secs.
Nice. The Vatican forgives Lennon. However, I do not think John would forgive the Vatican, which has a long history of human rights abuse. Karma's a bitch, init?
A fun take on the news:
http://www.atheistcartoons.com/
Yes Stacy, it is impressive, all those impressionable young girls, but when you add what goes on in millions of churches every Sunday, then the evangelists speaking in tongues and and rolling on the floor, I'll still give it to the big J.
Maybe Greg would like to run poll? No I think it might be biased....