SINATRA ON RELIGION Playboy: All right, lets start with the most basic question there is: Are you a religious man? Do you believe in God? Sinatra: Well, thatll do for openers. I think I can sum up my religious feelings in a couple of paragraphs. First: I believe in you and me. Im like Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in that I have a respect for life -- in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. But I dont believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or for a natural on the next roll of the dice. Im not unmindful of mans seeming need for faith; Im for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels. But to me religion is a deeply personal thing in which man and God go it alone together, without the witch doctor in the middle. The witch doctor tries to convince us that we have to ask God for help, to spell out to him what we need, even to bribe him with prayer or cash on the line. Well, I believe that God knows what each of us wants and needs. Its not necessary for us to make it to church on Sunday to reach Him. You can find Him anyplace. And if that sounds heretical, my source is pretty good: Matthew, Five to Seven, The Sermon on the Mount. Playboy: You havent found any answers for yourself in organized religion? Sinatra: There are things about organized religion which I resent. Christ is revered as the Prince of Peace, but more blood has been shed in His name than any other figure in history. You show me one step forward in the name of religion and Ill show you a hundred retrogressions. Remember, they were men of God who destroyed the educational treasures at Alexandria, who perpetrated the Inquisition in Spain, who burned the witches at Salem. Over 25,000 organized religions flourish on this planet, but the followers of each think all the others are miserably misguided and probably evil as well. In India they worship white cows, monkeys and a dip in the Ganges. The Moslems accept slavery and prepare for Allah, who promises wine and revirginated women. And witch doctors arent just in Africa. If you look in the L.A. papers of a Sunday morning, youll see the local variety advertising their wares like suits with two pairs of pants. Playboy: Hasnt religious faith just as often served as a civilizing influence? Sinatra: Remember that leering, cursing lynch mob in Little Rock reviling a meek, innocent little 12-year-old Negro girl as she tried to enroll in public school? Werent they -- or most of them -- devout churchgoers? I detest the two-faced who pretend liberality but are practiced bigots in their own mean little spheres. I didnt tell my daughter whom to marry, but Id have broken her back if she had had big eyes for a bigot. As I see it, man is a product of his conditioning, and the social forces which mold his morality and conduct -- including racial prejudice -- are influenced more by material things like food and economic necessities than by the fear and awe and bigotry generated by the high priests of commercialized superstition. Now dont get me wrong. Im for decency -- period. Im for anything and everything that bodes love and consideration for my fellow man. But when lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday -- cash me out. Playboy: But arent such spiritual hypocrites in a minority? Arent most Americans fairly consistent in their conduct within the precepts of religious doctrine? Sinatra: Ive got no quarrel with men of decency at any level. But I cant believe that decency stems only from religion. And I cant help wondering how many public figures make avowals of religious faith to maintain an aura of respectability. Our civilization, such as it is, was shaped by religion, and the men who aspire to public office anyplace in the free world must make obeisance to God or risk immediate opprobrium. Our press accurately reflects the religious nature of our society, but youll notice that it also carries the articles and advertisements of astrology and hokey Elmer Gantry revivalists. We in America pride ourselves on freedom of the press, but every day I see, and so do you, this kind of dishonesty and distortion not only in this area but in reporting -- about guys like me, for instance, which is of minor importance except to me; but also in reporting world news. How can a free people make decisions without facts? If the press reports world news as they report about me, were in trouble. Playboy: Are you saying that . . . Sinatra: No, wait, let me finish. Have you thought of the chance Im taking by speaking out this way? Can you imagine the deluge of crank letters, curses, threats and obscenities Ill receive after these remarks gain general circulation? Worse, the boycott of my records, my films, maybe a picket line at my opening at the Sands. Why? Because Ive dared to say that love and decency are not necessarily concomitants of religious fervor. Playboy: If you think youre stepping over the line, offending your public or perhaps risking economic suicide, shall we cut this off now, erase the tape and start over along more antiseptic lines? Sinatra: No, lets let it run. Ive thought this way for years, ached to say these things. Whom have I harmed by what Ive said? What moral defection have I suggested? No, I dont want to chicken out now. Come on, roll the tape.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:28:59 +0000
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