Bishop Barron slams singing of ‘Imagine,’ a ‘hymn to atheistic humanism,’ at Jimmy Carter’s memorial service

CV NEWS FEED // Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said Jan. 9 he was “appalled” when Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang John Lennon’s  anti-religious song “Imagine” at the funeral service of former President Jimmy Carter.

Bishop Barron posted on X that he watched excerpts of the service, which took place earlier in the day at the Episcopalian National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

“Under the soaring vault of what I think is still a Christian church, they reverently intoned, ‘Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try’ and ‘imagine there’s no country; it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too,’” Bishop Barron posted. “Vested ministers sat patiently while a hymn to atheistic humanism was sung. This was not only an insult to the memory of a devoutly believing Christian but also an indicator of the spinelessness of too much of established religion in our country.”

According to NPR, “Imagine” is “known as Carter’s favorite song.” It is unclear whether Carter, who planned much of his funeral decades ago, requested this song for the funeral or whether others selected it. During the funeral service, Carter’s grandson Joshua spoke about how Carter regularly taught Scripture on Sundays.

According to RadioX, Lennon said of his song “Imagine” that it is “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic… but because it is sugar-coated, it is accepted.”