British singer Elton John said in an interview with the Observer newspaper, "I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it," He further states, "Religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it is not really compassionate." and that organized religion doesn't seem to work. The Reuters article can be found here

These are statements are quite radical. Banning organized religion? He seems to be referring to not only Christianity, but also Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc. However, it seems to be indicative of particularly religions he feels are against homosexuality, like Christianity and Islam, since many organized religions do not have any negative opinions on homosexuality. What he sees as hatred and incompassion obviously upsets him to make such a sweeping statement.

I cannot speak for Muslims or those of other religions, but as a Christian I can tell you that Elton John does not have a proper understanding of Biblical Christianity. First of all, the Bible, the book from God on faith and practice, does not teach hatred towards homosexuals; it teaches hatred towards the sin of homosexuality... as well as sins of adultery, murder, lying, greed, lust, idolatry, envy, gossip, etc. All people are sinners, regardless of what kind of sins they do. This is precisely why Jesus Christ came: because of our cosmic rebelion against God's laws we have to die, and deserve damnation. Christ died on the cross to pay sin's penalty and rose from the grave, and anyone who trusts in the Lord Jesus as Savior has eternal life. As Jesus said, "He who believes in Me has everlasting life" (Jn 6:47). "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim 1:15). That means He came to offer salvation to everyone, whether they be self-righteous hypocrites or homosexual activists, and to anyone who would believe in Him, eternal life is given.

Christianity is based on the person of Jesus Christ. He taught that we should be loving and compassionate to all people, even enemies, but He also taught that sin is wrong, and it is necessary for Him to die for us, and we must believe in Him alone as our only way to heaven. When one believes in Him, he or she is a child of God, and enters into a personal relationship with Christ. 

Many Christian leaders have recently pointed out that Christianity is really not a religion, i.e. a set of traditions, practices, and regimen that must be followed to be "in." What makes a person a Christian is not in his/her practice or non-practice of Christian traditions, but whether or the person trusts in Christ. The practice of the sacraments - like baptism and communion - and doing good things - like loving people, not gossiping, and abstaining from intercourse with anyone other than husband or wife - all come down to personally living in a way that would please God and getting to know Him better. Jesus even defined eternal life as knowing God, something that starts as soon as you believe, and will be finalized when we die and go to heaven (See Jn 17:3). A Christian won't go to hell if he doesn't good things like God commands (Christians are not perfect, as anyone can deduce!), but we ought to practice righteousness to strengthen our relationship with Christ, to learn more about Him, please Him, and show gratitude towards Him for saving us.

Elton John likely was thinking of Christianity as an "organized religion" that hates gays. This would be a faulty perception in more ways than one: We're not very organized (there are thousands of Christian churches that follow Christ in different ways and having different systems of theology), we're not a religion (it's a relationship!), and we do not teach hatred of homosexuals or anyone else (but we do teach hatred of evil and sin, and we're sinners ourselves). I hope Mr. John takes new look at religions, and at what Christianity actually teaches; he just might change his mind.

 The majority of voters marked their ballots for democrats November 7th, destroying the majority the Republicans have held for 12 years, and the Senate also won a democrat majority by a narrow margin. Democrats gained 27 seats, making the ratio 228 (Democrats) to 196 (Republicans).

For Conservatives, most Republicans, and orthodox Christians, this is quite depressing. The Republican party in general holds a much more conservative ethic than the Democratic party, and now a group is in control of congress that contains liberal, anti-Christian leadership - those hating the military, disdaining sound principles, desiring to overturn Traditional, Judeo-Christian values.  This party gained office by causing division and demoralizing America during wartime, many of them stooping to any level of hateful rhetoric and character assassination to win, generally wanting to show tolerance to Islam, Buddhism, Kwanzaa, and any other religion, except Biblical Christianity.

I myself was quite disappointed that night, and still am actually. But my Bible professor at SDCC, John Pulliam, gave a reminder to me how our ultimate hope does not lie on earthly government, as good as they may be in comparison to other kingdoms, but in the kingdom to come, that Jesus Christ will institute in the future.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." (Jn 18:36) Indeed! Jesus said this to Pilate and was to be crucified later that day. His disciples were scattered and confused. Christ was killed on the cross. He was buried in a stone tomb by His sorrowful disciples, but to their delightful surprise, He rose from the dead that Sunday morning, showing that His claims to be the Son of God, the Messiah as foretold in the Scriptures, are true. And showing that He has conquered death, as He said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies" (Jn 11:25) and "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life" (Jn 6:47). Those who have believed in Jesus Christ have the assured hope of resurrection, even as He was resurrected. "...Certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection" (Rm 6:5). From this message His followers changed the world forever.

We will not lose hope because of one election. Our faith does not depend on the on the sway in opinion of a few percentage points of voters. It does not depend on Republicans outnumbering democrats in the US Congress, or even the Presidency and Judiciary. Christ told us that this world is evil, full of evil forces, sin-cursed; eventually, it will pass away. 

Yet this most certainly does not mean we shouldn't exert full effort to push for righteousness. Vote! Volunteer to help with campaigns and propositions that line up with your values, do some "blogging", write letters to the paper supporting candidates. "Righteous exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Jesus called Christians to be a light to the world, salt to the earth, preaching the Gospel to all people. This must often be done under evil governments, like the early Christians in the Roman empire, or those in Communist countries like China, Vietnam, and the USSR. However, in the US, we have a chance to work under a fairly good government, and we even have a chance to peacefully influence the government without being martyred.

Furthering righteousness is the whole reason we were put on this earth, and politics is one way to do that. But let's not have politics be the ONLY avenue for this. Actually, if all of us just starting being an example to our neighbors and coworkers, we could change this nation from the roots up. Defeats for justice (like the anti-abortion law that failed in South Dakota) by voters is an indicator of the moral decline in the American people themselves, and it is our responsibility to persuade other Americans back to traditional values. Do not sit back and let the politicians change America for better or worse - they can't; that's YOUR job and MY job. This is a democracy, and our government depends on the values of the people. Therefore, people need to pursue righteousness, and vote that way, and we would have a better government. 
To sum up, we have alot of work to do in the next two years!