Articles
"Imagine": A Not-So-Courageous-Decision
John Lennon helped popularize the Secular Humanist ideal of a world at peace without God and religion. He sang,
Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion, too,Imagine all the people, Living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one; I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will be as one.The underlying premise was that religion has been the cause of war, guilt, and other great problems among the masses. "Imagine" was written in about the Fall of 1971. Following are excerpts from a letter written in 1973 to preacher Oral Roberts.
This is ex-Beatle, John Lennon. I've been wanting to write you but I guess I didn't really want to face reality. I never do this, this is why I take drugs. Reality frightens me and paranoids me. True, I have a lot of money, being a Beatle been all around the world, but basically I'm afraid to face the problems of life. Let me begin to say, I regret that I said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. I don't even like myself anymore, guilt ... My own father I hate with a passion because he left my mom and me, came to me after we found "A Hard Day's Night" and asked for some money. It made me so mad, Paul had to hold me down. I was going to kill him. I was under the influence of pills at that time .... As the song we wrote, Paul and me, "Money Can't Buy Me Love, " it's true. The point is this, I want happiness. I don't want to keep up with drugs. Paul told me once, 'you made fun of me for not taking drugs, but you will regret it in the end.'...Explain to me what Christianity can do for me? Is it phony? Can He love me? I want out of hell.... P.S. I am, I hate to say, under the influence of pills now. I can't stop. I only wish I could thank you for caring. (From Oral Roberts: An American Lift by David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Ind. Un. Press, p. 310.)
