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Why was John Lennon’s atheist anthem ‘Imagine’ sung at Jimmy Carter’s funeral — at the late president’s request?
American Thinker ^ | 01/10/2025 | Peter Barry Chowka

Posted on 01/10/2025 8:49:40 AM PST by SeekAndFind

I was surprised, if not shocked, when two A-list celebrities, country singers Garth Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood, took the microphones at the State Funeral for Jimmy Carter yesterday and began performing “Imagine,” written by former Beatle John Lennon in 1971. The song is widely described as an “atheistic anthem” and incredibly is said to be one of the late 39th president’s favorite songs.

Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try.

No hell below us

Above us, only sky. . .

Imagine all the people

Livin’ for today

Ah

Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

To me, it sounds like a globalist woke anthem, as well. As Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies at Pitzer College, wrote in 2021, the 50th anniversary of “Imagine:”

It is purposely and powerfully irreligious. From its opening lyric, ‘Imagine there’s no heaven,’ to the refrain, ‘And no religion too,’ Lennon sets out what is, to many, a clear atheistic message.


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: funeral; imagine; jimmycarter; johnlennon
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1 posted on 01/10/2025 8:49:40 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Because Jimmuh was a communist.


2 posted on 01/10/2025 8:50:30 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: SeekAndFind
. Wikipedia has an entire page devoted to the song, the biggest selling single record of Lennon’s post-Beatle solo career and one of the most widely-adopted and influential songs of all time.

The footnotes in the excerpt below link to a credible primary source for Lennon’s quotes about the song which he co-wrote with his wife and muse Yoko Ono, John Blaney’s 2007 book Lennon & McCartney: Together Alone – A Critical Discography of the Solo Work:

Lennon stated: “‘Imagine’, which says: ‘Imagine that there was no more religion, no more country, no more politics,’ is virtually The Communist Manifesto, even though I’m not particularly a Communist and I do not belong to any movement.’ [10] He told NME: “There is no real Communist state in the world; you must realise that. The Socialism I speak about ... [is] not the way some daft Russian might do it, or the Chinese might do it. That might suit them. Us, we should have a nice ... British socialism.” [10]


3 posted on 01/10/2025 8:50:52 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“Imagine there’s no countries” therefore no Presidents.

The song is the Democrat’s official hymn


4 posted on 01/10/2025 8:51:21 AM PST by AppyPappy (If Hitler were alive today and criticized Trump, would he still be Hitler?)
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To: SeekAndFind

I thought the same thing.


5 posted on 01/10/2025 8:51:35 AM PST by alternatives?
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To: SeekAndFind

According to Lennon, this was a SATIRE piece and he was annoyed at the way people turned it into a hippy anthem...........


6 posted on 01/10/2025 8:52:52 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SeekAndFind

The song is a siren call.

To the listener It’s like having a case of the crabs. You take the ashes from a lighted cigaret and rub them in the affected area. It won’t be a cure for the crabs but it sure feels good!


7 posted on 01/10/2025 8:53:07 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: SeekAndFind

When those two started “singing” (and I use that word with a cringe) that song, I could NOT believe it. It’s one of the most anti-God songs in existence.

And I was under the impression all these years that Garth Brooks was a singer, although I never knew much about him. More like “whiner”. OMG! That was grueling and embarrassing.


8 posted on 01/10/2025 8:54:25 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: SeekAndFind

BTTT


9 posted on 01/10/2025 8:54:30 AM PST by nopardons
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To: SeekAndFind

Because Jimmy Carter was a phony and a narcissist?

Also the 2nd dumbest man ever to be president.


10 posted on 01/10/2025 8:54:53 AM PST by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Because Jimmy Carter embraced every leftist argument.

I looked through one of his books (at the bookstore, I would never spend my money on it).

His entire premise was that every single left wing position is the true “traditional American values”

So somehow this alleged “devout Christian” claimed that abortion, gay marriage, abolishing the death penalty, etc were all consistent with religious values and the founding of America.

I’m sure he believed the elimination of religion and God would be a wonderful place in which everyone would get along.

He was far more left wing than he pretended when in office.


11 posted on 01/10/2025 8:56:30 AM PST by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Carter came to be an agnostic, came to hate religion and became self loathing. He did as much harm in his bitterness as he could to the American nation after his failed Predidency. As with most Democrats , he was mentally ill.


12 posted on 01/10/2025 8:56:34 AM PST by allendale
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To: SeekAndFind

The left has “imagined” those things, and we’re saddled with failed communism, a joke of a pope, joke states like California, Washington, Oregon, New York, and Illinois - for the snort list. For a bonus, we get universities that cannot teach at an early 1900s fifth-grade level, publik skoolz that, well, require profanity to describe, and so much more. As is usual, Lenin proves the rule that talent in one area can result in no talent in every other area. H-wood is filled with those types of self-loving clowns.


13 posted on 01/10/2025 8:56:51 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: SeekAndFind

Carter was one of what we see in the modern left, an overtly Christian public figure whose life and working career were largely focused on defeating Christianity.

Carter left his church in 2000 because of their holding to the Bible.

After the end of the winning elections part of their careers, Carter, Clinton, and Al Gore all left the Southern Baptist church.


14 posted on 01/10/2025 8:57:14 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Red Badger

“According to Lennon, this was a SATIRE piece and he was annoyed at the way people turned it into a hippy anthem...........”

ROTFLMAO!


15 posted on 01/10/2025 8:58:09 AM PST by TexasGator (1I11.1/|1211i.11'1/'1/11111)
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To: SeekAndFind

Loved the melody. Not so much for the lyrics.


16 posted on 01/10/2025 8:58:19 AM PST by Sir_Humphrey (The “only Trumpers” are just as damaging to the conservative cause as are the “never Trumpers”)
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To: SeekAndFind

Carter was himself a religious man, a Christian, but I don’t think he ever challenged his many Marxist friends.


17 posted on 01/10/2025 8:58:25 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Sing or play it at my funeral, and I'll get up out of the casket and kick somebody's a$$!!

Anyone who seen my posts can figure that I'd rather them play " Problem Child" by ac/dc.

otoh, It would probably be Mercy Me and Amazing Grace. You're looking at a shell, the nut is gone.

18 posted on 01/10/2025 8:59:01 AM PST by Ikeon ( Why don't they, do what they say? Say what they mean? One thing leads to another. )
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To: SeekAndFind

BTW I don’t mind the song itself, John lennon isn’t going to change my views on God or anything else.


19 posted on 01/10/2025 9:00:23 AM PST by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: SeekAndFind

There was a time, aside from the communism, that an American president would select only American music for his funeral.


20 posted on 01/10/2025 9:03:38 AM PST by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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