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A cheeky saying, nothing more.

John Lennon, guitarist and singer for the Beatles, did not want to make a political statement when he told reporter Maureen Cleave on March 4, 1966 for her series about the lives of the four musicians in the London evening paper “Evening Standard”: “Christianity will pass .

It will go away and shrink.

I don't need to discuss that;

I'm right and I'll be right

We (meaning: the Beatles, the editors) are now more popular than Jesus;

I don't know which will pass first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. "

Hardly anyone made this comment.

Only when the text was reprinted in the US youth magazine “Datebook” at the end of July 1966 and the chief layouter put the sentence “We are currently more popular than Jesus” on the front page, that changed.

The Beatles with the Order Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965

Source: picture alliance / dpa

But immediately vehemently.

Christians all over the world, but especially in the USA, got upset about the alleged blasphemy of Lennon - who, incidentally, was quite interested in religious questions.

Radio stations stopped playing Beatles songs, and in the southern states there were public burnings of Beatles records and merchandise.

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The planned USA tour of the "Fab Four" was on the brink, which is why John Lennon, in consultation with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, publicly apologized for the flippant remark at a press conference.

But it didn't help: Fundamentalist believers and members of the Ku Klux Klan continued to rush against the concerts and threatened the musicians and the audience.

While performing in Memphis on August 19, 1966, there was medium panic when a firecracker was thrown onto the stage of the Mid-South Coliseum.

The Beatles at a concert in Munich (from left): George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr in the background

Source: picture alliance / dpa

There was certainly a background to Lennon's remark: In the mid-1960s the number of active Christians worldwide and also in Great Britain steadily decreased, while the Beatles were without a doubt the most famous younger people in the world at the same time in the course of "Beatlemania" .

Lennon, born in Liverpool in 1940, has mainly been making music since late 1956.

He invented the name "The Beatles" for the band and composed numerous happy (but also some dark) songs with his school friend Paul McCartney (bass).

With Ringo Starr on drums and George Harrison on lead guitar, John and Paul created the very special Beatles sound that perfectly matched the attitude towards life of the young men and women born in and soon after World War II.

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The excitement over Lennon's Jesus saying led to the USA tour remaining the last of the Beatles.

The band played half a dozen studio albums until 1970, but then the “Fab Four” separated and from then on went their own musical ways.

Lennon worked a lot with his wife Yoko Ono, McCartney started a solo career, with which he cemented his status as probably the most successful songwriter in pop history.

According to an anecdote that has been handed down in different versions, an Anglican pastor friend of mine is said to have countered John Lennon's saying about popularity with a simple statement: “It may be that the Beatles are more popular today than Jesus.

But our show has been running a lot longer. "

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