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I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down. I was just saying it as a fact and it's true more for England than here. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this.

John Lennon#5

LennonCommunicationMediaReligionControversyMisunderstanding

About this quote

What does it mean?
Lennon apologizes for comparing television to Jesus, explaining he stated a fact that was taken as an attack.
In plain terms
He says he meant television was more popular than Jesus but people got angry.
What can you take from it?
Facts can be misunderstood as attacks.

Where it applies

  • public speaking
  • religious debate
  • media backlash

Putting it to work

  • clarifying statements
  • managing backlash
  • honesty

Questions to consider

  • When does a statement offend?
  • How do you handle backlash?

Another view

Context often matters more than the literal fact stated.

More from John Lennon

  1. Christianity will go.. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't k…

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  2. If art were to redeem man, it could do so only by saving him from the seriousness of life and restoring him to an unexpected boyishness.

    Permalink to quote #6
  3. 'One cave she wolf go too farther, and I wolf leaf her' he said to his fave rave horse. Of course the horse didn't answer, because as you know they cannot spea…

    Permalink to quote #3

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