Shakira introduced him to at the UN by singing John Lennon's "Imagine."
And Mo Rocca did a reading at the pope's mass at Madison Square Garden.
Everyone knows the lyrics to "Imagine", but in case you've forgotten, here are the first two verses:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
It's one of my favorite songs, of course. But is it also one of the pope's?
But perhaps the pope didn't know what Shakira planned to sing, or couldn't do anything about it if he did.
There is no doubt about Mo Rocca's reading at mass, though. He was selected to do the reading; something that could not have happened without the pope's knowledge and approval.
So what can we conclude about all this?
Does the pope imagine there's no heaven or hell? Does he hope for a world without religion?
And does the pope support gay rights?
Probably not. But it's fun to imagine.
3 comments:
Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, Hilter's Germany gave us all the data we need about "no religion". We don't have to "Imagine" anything. Unabashed cruelty the likes of which we haven't seen in since Ghenga Khan's era. Defended by a Nietzschian diatribe articulated in "Will to Power" the ubermensch is called to cruelly destroy inferior cultures. Hilter hand-delivered copies of this book to Stalin and Mussolini. John Lennon must have not had any history requirement in art school or perhaps he dropped out of school before he got to 20th century European history.
You seem to ignore the terrible things done my by religious people. Such things have happened, in case you weren't aware.
Stalin was a sadist. Even god believers can be sadists. Other USSR leaders were not sadists. Mao was a sadist. Other Chinese leaders were not sadists. Hitler's religion was German nationalism. He was a very religious man. I am an atheist and I haven't killed one person, nor do I plan to. This approach of condemning irreligiousity by listing the evil irreligious fails just as hard as the approach the irreligious take to condemning religion by pointing out the evil religious. It doesn't prove anything about the truth of the existence of a god or gods or the truth of any individual religion, which is what really matters. Why spin your wheels with such nonsense?
And, the world has done fine without art based on religions that disappeared long ago, just as it would have done fine without Christian art. Your terribly fallacious attempts at attacking irreligiousity make you look like a fool.
What is ironic is people who sing the song but only imagine and do not share their wealth. I guess the conclusion of their imagination is to be self-ish. Ironic because singers sing such songs but its easier to criticise than deprive oneself.
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