John Lennon was being interviewed by the London Evening Standard, and he happened to say in one portion of the article: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink....We're more popular than Jesus now." In the UK, nothing was thought of this comment, but it was not long before some people in this country got really bent out of shape.
Some Bible belt disc jockeys decided that the comments were blasphemous, and they declared a ban on Beatles records. John Lennon did issue and apology because he did not meant to say that he was taking the place of God or religion or anything like that. It was simply a misunderstanding.
Here is how I see this issue. I think John Lennon was unfortunately absolutely right. Things have continued to change in this world of ours. Toby Keith has a song called American Ride, and in that song he has a line that always makes me think. "Plasma gettin' bigger, Jesus gettin' smaller." I think that is the same idea. Christianity as we know it is going away and has been going away for a number of years. Music, movies, money, and so much more has dwarfed Christianity. All other religions seem to be elevated, and of course, atheism is growing as well. John Lennon's comments don't offend me--they are true. The Beatles did become more popular than Jesus. People would rather follow a person than the God of the universe.
Enough on that. For more information, please check out:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-lennon-sparks-his-first-major-controversy
And the picture I have displayed came from this site:
http://www.heyheymymy.com.au/
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