Elton John Wants A Ban on Religion

From an article of the same title on beliefnet:

According to Sir Elton John, the world could be a more compassionate place free of "hateful lemmings" if only all religion was banned. In an interview with Observer Music Monthly magazine, Sir Elton says that while he loves "the idea of the teachings of Christ," he still believes that, as a whole, "organized religion doesn't seem to work."

This isn't an uncommon sentiment: the teachings of Jesus are good but organized religion and modern Christianity are bad. For example, I've heard Bill Maher say similar things. What's at the root of this sentiment? Do people like John and Maher misunderstand the teachings of Jesus and what he was all about...or is the modern church distracted and failing to live out and emphasize the teachings of Jesus?