Jesus would have been a supporter of gay marriage, Sir Elton John has claimed.<\/p>\n
The musician, who plans to marry his civil partner David Furnish next year in a “very quiet” ceremony, said that rules preventing gay clergy from marrying and requiring Catholic priests to be celibate were “old and stupid things”.<\/p>\n
He told Sky News’s Murnaghan programme: “The church hierarchy, the traditionalists, might be up in arms about it but times have changed.<\/p>\n
“If Jesus Christ was alive today, I cannot see him, as the Christian person that he was and the great person that he was, saying this could not happen.<\/p>\n
“He was all about love and compassion and forgiveness and trying to bring people together and that is what the church should be about.”<\/p>\n
Sir Elton said he believed the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was “doing a good job” and Pope Francis was “wonderful”.<\/p>\n
“He’s excited me so much by his humanity,” the singer said of the pope.<\/p>\n
“He’s taken everything down to the humility of faith.<\/p>\n
“He’s stripped it down to the bare bones and said it’s all basically about love and inclusiveness. That has to be encouraged by the Church of England as well.”<\/p>\n
The performer offered to introduce Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to members of the gay community earlier this year to show the impact of “deeply divisive” legislation.<\/p>\n
He said he plans to meet with the Russian leader when he visits the country in November.<\/p>\n
He added: “It’s no good putting up a wall and saying I’m not talking to these people; the only way things get solved is by talking to people.”<\/p>\n
John said that he and his partner were not able to get married until next year because they were already in a civil partnership.<\/p>\n
He said the marriage would be “very quiet and very off the cuff” as the couple had a big celebration for their civil union.<\/p>\n
Credit: The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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