Who is the hate monger?

I hate to be affected by anything said by Elton Johnand especially hate to dignify his cacophony by acknowledging it, but in light of his recent tirade on religious hate...

From my point of view I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it. I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school and I collected all the little stickers and put them in my book. But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.

The world is near escalating to World War Three and where are the leaders of each religion? Why aren't they having a conclave; why aren't they coming together? I said this after 9/11 and people thought I was nuts: instead of more violence why isn't there a [meeting of religious leaders]. It's all got to be dialogue - that's the only way. Get everybody from each religion together and say 'Listen, this can't go on. Why do we have all this hatred?'

...I have to point out two of the most recent Catholic outreach endeavors.

The Church, after all, does not hate gays:

Bishop Arthur Serratelli, who headed the committed which drafted the [“Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care”] said, that the bishops hoped the new guidelines would, “help us as bishops to promote sound, effective ministry to persons with a homosexual inclination,” noting that, “In her message the Church offers a positive message in Her teaching. The Church offers hope.”“The tone of the document,” Bishop Serratelli said, “is positive, pastoral, and welcoming… Its starting point is the intrinsic human dignity of every person and God’s love for every person. Every person who ministers in the name of the Church must respect this human dignity.”

And, in response to the questions of the leaders of each religion and “why aren’t they coming together?”:

The first Muslim intellectual to have a private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI since his election said the pontiff has a real thirst for understanding Islam and conducting a sincere dialogue with its followers.