During a magazine interview in 1966, John Lennon said that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." No one paid much attention in England. Lennon was brash, young, and intentionally outspoken. When an American magazine republished the five page article, the quote became the centerpiece of the story.

The uproar in the US was gigantic. Everyone looking to profess their religious superiority and show moral outrage went looking for a microphone. The storm raged for months.

John didn't say The Beatles were better, more important, or worth more than the Son of God; just more popular. And he was probably right when you consider how many people knew of the group during that time and how many folks chose to believe in something other than Protestantism. But that didn't matter.

A disc jockey in Birmingham chose to claim his 15 minutes of fame by declaring a Beatles' record destruction night in the Magic City. The event got national attention. Tommy Charles wasn't very vocal about Bull Connor releasing attack dogs on Civil rights demonstrators a couple of years earlier. I never heard of anyone having a "burn the KKK uniform night." But maybe I just missed the announcement.

Anyway, the uproar soon died down and life continued as it had before, without any fire and brimstone showers. John Lennon decided he was more popular than the other Beatles, married an ugly woman who couldn't sing and started lecturing the world on making peace and living simply. He did continue to write, and made a few pretty good records. One of those was

Imagine.

That song alone got enough airplay and sold enough copies for Lennon to not have to worry about living simply. He could do anything he wanted; and usually did. I would not even guess the hundreds of thousands of times I heard the song on the radio.

I didn't much like

Imagine. I thought it was too preachy and hard to dance to. I would usually change the station. But millions liked it, listened to it, requested it, and bought it. It is hard to say how many times the song has been played on Alabama airways alone, and continues to get played over and over.

Last week an organization called Freedom From Religion bought billboard space near Birmingham and had a line from the song placed on the ad. "Imagine no religion." Lots of people got upset; something the anti- religious organization was counting on.

I'm sure most real Christians realize this country was founded by people who didn't like a government determining how they worshipped. I'm sure many probably looked at the message as a positive; Imagine a world without religion. But some called the lady in charge and told her she would rot in Hell along with John Lennon. Others demanded the billboard be removed. And you can bet your 700 Club t- shirt the sign will be damaged before it is removed.

Like John's quote from the '60s, this will die down; maybe it already has. I'm not a religious scholar, but I bet if someone asked Jesus, he'd be more concerned about the billboard obscuring the landscape than what's on the front of it.