If you listen to what he actually said and his “apology” afterwards (forced by the press) he said he was astonished that youth were holding the Beatles up more than they were holding up God and that it was crazy. He didn’t say The Beatles were greater or better, he said the world was treating them like they were. He wasn’t comparing himself or the group to God...the world was. Context means everything.
And then there was The Rutles:
In the summer of 1966, Ron Nasty was widely quoted by saying that the Rutles were bigger than God. He went on to say that God had never gotten a hit record.
In response to this, many fans burnt their albums, many more burnt their fingers trying to burn their albums. Album sales skyrocketed, as people began to buy the albums, simply to burn them.
It would later turn out that it was all a great misunderstanding. Nasty, whilst talking to a slightly deaf journalist, stated that the Rutles were bigger than Rod Stewart, who would not be big for another eight years.
In an interview on the subject, Ron stated that this proved that “[we’re] all daft— I’ll probably get in trouble for that now.” Nasty apologised to God and Rod to these statements.