Elton John: Jesus Was Gay

Elton John talks about love, drugs, and fame in a new interview but it's his take on a "gay Jesus" that's cranking up the Christian right to a frothing frenzy. "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems," the singer tells Parade. "On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East—you're as good as dead."

Christian groups are already skewering the star. "Jesus was certainly compassionate, but to say he was 'super-intelligent' is to compare the son of God to a successful game-show contestant,” Catholic League President William Donohue tells CNN. “More seriously, to call Jesus gay is to label him a sexual deviant. But what else would we expect from a man who previously said, 'From my point of view, I would ban religion completely.'" (More Elton John stories.)