Bono: Faith & Church - Fall 2003

[U2Soar]

It's been busy Fall for Bono regarding faith and the Church!

A wonderful little interview with Bono the day after the 46664 Concert which capsulates many aspects of faith in action. Bono committed to a prayer life (?the Bible is my bedside reading); choosing to develop a conscience true to faith (?I can?t stand injustice?); to become genuinely aware of the situation (?saw with my own eyes? and educating himself ?believe me, I know my stuff?); going forth with confidence (?I just represent the voice of those without one? / ?they?re the ones who should be intimidated!? / ?looking them in the eye?); utilizing his gifts (?Celebrity - I realize that it?s good currency. I?m happy to use mine for good reasons?) engaged in authentic action (?I?d find a way to do something? i.e. DATA addresses the changing of the structures of the injustice rather than merely remaining on the ?surface of things? - the limitations of ?charity?); he may have difficulties with his own membership in any particular Church but he still supports his children (?I take my kids to Mass?); and he is committed to building their awareness of injustice (?I?m going to take my daughters Jordan and Eve to Africa very soon?).

Bono Goes to War Against AIDS (excerpts) - Dany Jucaud - Paris Match magazine - 12/4/03

Paris Match: You have faith. How do you know God exists?
Bono: The Bible is my bedside reading. That said, I?ve always thought the important thing was not to know if I believe in God or not, but to know if God believes in me.
PM: Where does the rosary you wear around your neck come from? (Note: He has worn it publicly ever since he received it in 1999)
Bono: The Pope gave it to me on my last visit. As a trade, I gave him my sunglasses.
Bono: The person who has affected me the most is the archbishop, Desmond Tutu. He is inhabited by the Gospel. Tutu?s got the laugh which for me is the real evidence of liberty.
PM: You could content yourself with giving money, signing a petition. Why did you launch into a battle like this?
Bono: I can?t stand injustice. There?s an emergency in the world. It is completely unacceptable that in Europe and America we have drugs that cost almost nothing to make, and there are hundreds of thousands of children and parents who die every day because we aren?t sharing those drugs. History will judge us harshly, and so will our children, and God even more.
PM: Do you remember the exact moment you said: I?ve got to do something?
Bono: After [Live Aid] I spent a month with my wife working in refugee camps in Ethiopia. I saw with my own eyes for the first time the ravages of famine and I?ve never gotten over it. I promised myself that one day I?d find a way to do something. Celebrity is ridiculous, but I realize that it?s good currency. I?m happy to use mine for good reasons.
Bono: (Note: answering as to whether he is intimated by world leaders) I don?t go see these people in my name, I just represent the voice of those without one. I go to bed every night with reports from the World Bank. Believe me, I know my stuff. No President, French or American, has ever intimidated me. Far from it, they?re the ones who should be intimidated! [laughs, then turns serious] It?s the people in power who one day, will have to give an account. I can read it in their eyes, some of them, the first time they see me. ?Who?s this weirdo, where?s this guy from anyway?? Being an exotic animal is an advantage; they give you access -- until they regret it. The most important thing is looking them in the eye.
Bono: I take my kids to Mass, but when it?s too boring, I?m embarrassed, because I don?t want them to think going to sleep in church is the normal thing. One day, one of the priests talked about football in his sermon and I saw stars in their eyes.
Bono: I?m going to take my daughters Jordan and Eve to Africa very soon. I want to shape them, gently, to be aware of the world. For the moment, I want my daughters to see how the Devil has done his best work. As my friend Bob Geldof says, AIDS is a medical problem, but people are dying because of a political problem.

 

[U2Soar]

BONO CREDITS CHURCH FOR LEADING AIDS FIGHT (Excerpts)
Cathleen Falsani - Chicago Sun-Times ? December 5 / 2003

A year ago, as we sat in a tour bus motoring across the Midwest where he was trying to raise consciousness about the AIDS emergency in Africa, Bono told me in no uncertain terms that he was pissed off at the American church. "Christ's example is being demeaned by the church if they ignore the new leprosy, which is AIDS," he'd said. "The church is the sleeping giant here. If it wakes up to what's really going on in the rest of the world, it has a real role to play. If it doesn't, it will be irrelevant.''

A lot can change in a year. Even the mind of a stubborn, quick-tempered Irish rock star. As we sat in the lobby of the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C., Wednesday afternoon -- on the first anniversary of Bono and his Heart of America tour's stop in Chicago -- the 43-year-old lead singer of the Irish band U2 revealed that the greatest spiritual insight he's acquired lately was how he had underestimated churchfolk. "I really am surprised and even a little disappointed that I can't continue to beat up the church, because they have really responded," Bono said. "The sleeping giant kind of woke up and is really playing a huge role in getting the job done. I'm amazed and moved by it, actually," he said of the American church he's come to know and respect in the last year.

Bono largely credits people of faith -- particularly the Evangelical Christian community that was the target both of his ire and his campaign to raise awareness about the scourge of AIDS and poverty ravishing sub-Saharan Africa -- with motivating politicians and ultimately President Bush to pony up unprecedented funding for African AIDS relief. During his State of the Union speech last January, shortly after the Heart of America tour arranged by Bono's not-for-profit Debt AIDS and Trade in Africa (aka DATA) was completed, Bush announced his plans to provide $15 billion over five years in emergency funds to fight the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Almost a year later, Congress has yet to pass a bill allocating $2.4 billion in aid for the first year. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill before Christmas, but the Senate might not get to it until after the holiday break in January. If the $2.4 billion bill passes, it will double the amount of aid currently given to Africa by the United States, and would be the largest such increase in 40 years, Bono said.

"There's an opportunity here for the church to really, truly become sanctuary, to be the place people go to to feel safe and a place where people go to be honest with themselves as well as with God," Bono told me. "This is an opportunity." While in South Africa, Bono had what he said was an enlightening conversation with singer Bob Geldof, an old friend from Ireland who was the Svengali behind the Live Aid movement of the 1980s. Faith, at least in its institutional form, he told Geldof, may be the secret weapon to beating back the AIDS offensive. "He's an atheist. I said to him, 'Bob this is going to annoy you, but I really do feel, looking at this problem so out of control, that synagogues, temples and chapels are really, in the end, my only hope across Africa. As you look at this, if it isn't going to happen through the church, it's going to be so very difficult for government. Just dealing with prevention, giving young girls the courage to say no to male advances, to fight the culture of rape which exists in ghettos all over the world.' And Bob turned around to me and said, 'You know what? I think that may be true. Human beings are so in need of guiding principles right now, I'm not sure they can come out of textbooks. Education has to be at a very deep level to change and deal with this.'"

There's a lot of education to be done, in Africa and at home. When I told Bono about a recent survey of African-American clergy in Chicago that found a majority of them would not allow an HIV-positive member of their congregation to work in the church kitchen, he looked more saddened than disturbed. "Well, then we've got a long ways to go with the education," he said. "Archbishop Tutu introduced me to a word: ubuntu. Essentially, what it means is 'I am because we are.' And it's about the interdependence, how we need each other and we have a stake in each other. One part of the community can't thrive truly while the other part of the community is in the dirt. "In tending to them, we will be better off ourselves. It's that simple. Ubuntu."

 

[bonosloveslave]

Thanks for posting these

 

[U2Soar]

Your welcome Bonosloveslave - Glad to share!

 

[sue4u2]

That was great U2Soar..
...Thanks!!

 

[U2Soar]

No problem Sue4u2!

 

[U2Soar]

THE BONO INTERVIEW (with MuchMusic)

MuchMusic (Canada?s ?MTV? TV music channel) ? It took place on November 15
in Toronto the day after Bono?s 25 minute Address (nationally broadcast) to the Liberal Party convention. This excerpt and the commentary that follows is from http:/ /u2sermons.blogspot.com.

George: How's your relationship with spirituality changed?
Bono: Well, I think what you discover is God is even bigger than you think. It's very hard?..
George: That He doesn't need your help? (chuckling)
Bono: (laughs) That's right, he doesn't need your help. You go, "I can help God here, I'm sure he's stuck, those kids in Africa and all; I'll help." God doesn't need your help, but, there's a blessing. Somebody said to me - I said this to you last night. A wise man, a spiritual man said this: he said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing, Bono. Find out what God's doing; it's already blessed. You don't have to guess what's on God's mind. If you're looking for God, and can't find God, he's with the poorest, most wretched, most vulnerable lives. That's where God hangs out. If you want to get closer to God, that's a key. In your own moments of despair, in your own moment of wretchedness, you're also closer to God. But I don't talk about God very much because I'm not a very good advertisement for it.

I've corrected punctuation and one line, the end of the (unattributed) quote from Bill Hybels about not asking God to bless what you're doing. I have to smile at Bono's avoiding naming him, but I do sort of hope it gets back to Hybels that the sentence he gave Bono a year ago is now part of the playlist.

(However, an aside: I strongly associate that line with John Wimber. Any Willow Creek or Vineyard type readers out there who can tell me if Hybels might have been quoting Wimber, or is that also a Hybels line?)

And one more comment: within about a 10 minute interview (intercut with clips of his Liberal Party speech and U2 songs to make it 30), there are two quotes from the New Testament (one unattributed, and one credited to Bob Geldof). I want to comment on the first of them, when the interviewer has asked about bands who lose touch with the spark of greatness that got them started:

Bono: ?They say where your treasure is there your heart will be also. I know people who have a bit of success, make a bit of money, get a nice apartment, hang some art on the wall, you know -- as Iiggy Pop says, "here comes my Chinese rug." They get into all this stuff and suddenly music is not where they're at, they're more with furniture... it's not a great trade. ?

Anyone out there who leads a parish, or a Bible study, or whatever: isn't that exactly what we all work so hard for, trying to inspire people to integrate the Bible? So that when someone asks them a question that is ostensibly a completely secular matter in their professional life, the first thing they will think of is, "Oh, what explains this phenomenon is a principle Jesus taught." What percentage of our folks have Scripture deeply enough integrated that they'd give an answer like this? (I'm not sure I want to know....)

 

[U2Soar]

I believe this was the first time that the leaders of the U.S. Churches gathered together (physically and publicly) in order to speak out for the African AIDS emergency (?)!! Isn?t it an ?unusual? sight to see that among them is a rock star! ? Bono. And not only he is present but (at least according to the word count = 1/3!) he becomes the primary spokesperson!

?Because it?s never, you know, it?s never going to be moving too fast, you know, if you?ve watched someone die. If you?ve watched the wailing and the weeping of their family after somebody dies. You watch children dying needlessly because they didn?t get Nevira ? their mother?s didn?t receive Nevirapine. It costs nothing. Then you get very angry. I can get very, very angry. If you want me to do angry I?ll do angry. But right now I?m trying to calm down and try and get the President to open his wallet and give us 3 billion (that he promised in his State Of The Union Address).? - Bono

U.S. CHURCHES? ?PRESS CONFERENCE TO CALL ON CONGRESS TO KEEP AMERICA?S PROMISE TO AFRICA? (Excerpts) ? Transcript provided by kaisernetwork.org - September 16 / 2003 ? Washington D.C.

Speakers: Bishop John Ricard (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) - Bishop Stephen Bouman (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) - Bishop Lawrence Reddik (Christian Methodist Episcopal Church) - Reverend David Beckmann (Bread for the World) - Bruce Wilkinson (World Vision) - Bono (DATA) - Agnes Nyamayarwo (from Uganda and who traveled Bono on his Heart Of America tour last December and who met with President Bush when he visited Africa earlier this year. She lives with HIV/AIDS and she lost her husband and two sons to AIDS)

REVEREND DAVID BECKMANN: I don?t think I need to introduce our next speaker, but I would like to say that all of us up here thank God for Bono?s effective advocacy for Africa.
BONO: The war against terror is bound up in the war against poverty. I didn?t say that. Colin Powell said that and he?s a military man so we should listen to him when he says things like that. There ? these are dangerous times, they are nervous times, and the idea that we can insulate ourselves in the Western world from what?s happening in the rest of the world is just plainly ridiculous. The AIDS emergency is just that. It?s not a cause. We?re not here peddling a cause. We?re not here looking to get into America?s wallet for another cause. Seven thousand people dying a day is not a cause, it?s an emergency. And I?m glad to say that America started the process of getting to grips with what has been a sort of suspicious relationship with the whole concept of foreign assistance. It?s very, very important what the rest of the world thinks of us in the U.S. and Europe. It may even be ? as well as being a moral imperative to get to grips with these problems, and an economic imperative because they get more expensive the longer we let them go on. It might even be a political and strategic imperative here. Africa in chaos the world does not need right now. But it is. It?s a continent set to burst into flames unless we describe this emergency as such and start to deal with it as such, and behave like it?s an emergency. We mustn?t give in to this idea that it?s the lost continent and get used to and numb to its predicament. So we?re here to try and get President Bush to fully fund the authorization bill that he signed for 3 billion this year. We?re here to get him to fully fund Millennium Challenge Account, which is a fantastic idea. I?m not sure everyone understands ? it?s a way of giving extra funds to countries that tackle corruption and have poverty reduction programs going. It?s a new approach to aid and I think the President and his team should be very proud of the Millennium Challenge Account and I think they should work very hard to fully fund it in ?04. We know the problems with the economy, security issues, and the war, and American troops. We know that there are lots of programs around the United States that are crying out for funding, but I want you to know that this ? there?s something, there?s some kind of correlation between America?s safety and the plight of the poorest and most wretched in this world. I?m not sure what it is, but I know that these men of God who stand behind me, and I?m just your Irish rock star -- I?m the pig in the middle -- will tell you that the plight of the poorest of the poor is what?s on God?s mind, and I believe that. And I believe that ? I believe we?ve let slide their plight. This is the time to take action and, as I say, to deal with it as an emergency because that is exactly what it is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

REVEREND DAVID BECKMANN: I?ll be the traffic cop for questions and when you, uh, when you ask a question just say who you are and what your news organization is. Yes.
BONO: I met with President Bush this morning. We had a good old row. He?s very passionate about these problems and I believe him. And when he says he?s committed to the long term on the AIDS question and on the MCA. What I just can?t agree with is the numbers. We just can?t agree on the numbers. Three billion dollars, to me, says we?re serious about the emergency this year. Nothing less. This is what we need. This is what the demand is. Need is great, I believe the capacity is there. He doesn?t. He is in charge of America?s wallet and as he sees it he wants to spend that wisely. I believe that it?s wise to spend now to build the capacity, to build the infrastructure, to take on the emergency that is AIDS. He doesn?t. We?re having a row. And ? but he?s in it for the long-term and his State of the Union speech, the spirit of it, is exactly what we need now, which was, you know, we?ll get the drugs to them on motorcycles or bicycles if we have to. And I just feel that that spirit has been lost a little bit now in the bureaucracy when they?re saying, well, we can?t really use that money now and, well, you know, it?s just ? it?s ? that?s a pain in the arse from my point of view.
MALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: I already know. I?m positive. I?m depressed.
MALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: Do I look positive?
MALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: Yeah. That?s what - I do believe that, but that?s not what we?re fighting over. We?re fighting over the money now. We want the money now. That?s what I?m upset about. I just ? as it happens I do think he?s in it for the long run. I don?t think it?s show business, if that?s what you?re asking.
MALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: I think there is support in Congress for the 3 billion. I think we?ve seen various bills come forward, particularly at the Senate, but I think even the House is coming, you know, is coming through on this. I believe they will. There is certainly bipartisan support for this. This is the one thing everybody can agree on, for God?s sake. You know, you have - John Kerry?s passionate about AIDS, you have President Bush is passionate about AIDS, Howard Dean is interested in this. He sees, you know, the way America is perceived in the rest of the world is a security issue. I mean anyone with a brain is interested in this. But we?ve got to get cash on the streets now. And as regards my own sort of, you know, how I go about business, you know, I want to pull my hair out. But not at George Bush, not at Tony Blair, not at Jack Sherack, not at Schroeder. At all of them. You know? Because it?s never, you know, it?s never going to be moving too fast, you know, if you?ve watched someone die. If you?ve watched the wailing and the weeping of their family after somebody dies. You watch children dying needlessly because they didn?t get Nevira ? their mother?s didn?t receive Nevirapine. It costs nothing. Then you get very angry. I can get very, very angry. If you want me to do angry I?ll do angry. But right now I?m trying to calm down and try and get the President to open his wallet and give us 3 billion. And, you know, and, as I say, I do believe that he?s sincere and his team are sincere, they?re just not moving quick enough from my point of view.
MALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: Just we?ve got to sharpen our argument. We?ve got an unstoppable argument. The absorptive capacity argument, which is that we can only give a certain amount at a certain level over a certain time, it?s not actually true. As the people behind me who really understand because their people are on the ground tending to it on a daily basis, 365 days a year. You have to build capacity. That?s really important. You have to build the infrastructure if you want to take this seriously. And you?ve got to spend early on to do that. Now. And so what ? tell me your question again. All right, so we?re sharpening the argument and ? to try and convince the administration that the wise money is to spend ? is to spend now and to listen to the people on the ground. Listen to the Catholic Relief Services. They treat 4 million people in Africa. Not all negatives, or HIV positives rather. You know, but orphans and the problem as it breaks out. But we have this campaign called Keep America?s Promise. And it?s, you know, it was Congress authorized a bill for 3 billion this year and we think that was the right figure and we just want to remind people that that?s where it?s sticking to.
MALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: Well, yeah, of course I asked him about his trip to Africa. I think he?s been changed by his trip to Africa. But changed to the point where he is acceding to our demands for 3 billion, I don?t know yet. We?ll have to see. We?re not going to tire or stop sharpening our argument that it is the wise money. Spend $3 billion this year.
FEMALE VOICE: [Off-mic].
BONO: Uh ?
[Laughter].
BONO: Uh, because I?m an amateur in their professions. And, you know, I have a very professional team with DATA. Our organization is an extraordinary thing. We?re trying to treat the poor and most wretched on this earth with a sort of professionalism that they?re not used to in terms of their representation. But these people are doing that ? have always been doing that. And they?re my bodyguards and God?s their bodyguards, so I?m ? I reckon it?s just the smart thing to do.
(a reporter asks Agnes for the spelling of her last name and Bono adds afterwards
BONO: Agnes is going on tour. She?s, uh, she?s a little support band and pretty good. DATA support. She?s going to where? Where? What states? Florida, Tennessee, what else? Kentucky. Just to explain these ideas and to make them physical. And she?s a very, very dangerous woman. In a very quiet voice she can dismantle the hardest of hearts. And I?ve seen her take a whole room -- and I?ve been in that room ? and she?s turned me into a puddle a couple of times. So if you?re feeling a bit depressed in your life and you want a lift, this woman is a great joy.

 

[Sue DeNym]

Thank you for posting these articles, U2Soar. Bono is so passionate about this very important cause, and it's good to keep up with what's going on there.

 

[U2Soar]

Hi Sue - I agree Bono is an inspiration!

 

[U2Soar]

46664 MANDELA CONCERT ? CAPETOWN SOUTH AFRICA ? NOVEMBER 29 / 2003

Bono and The Edge joined numerous music artists from around the world at concert to raise awareness about and funds for the African AIDS emergency. It was broadcast live world-wide on the internet. A 1 ? hour highlight program of the concert was broadcast world-wide on TV on December 1st ? World AIDS Day. A DVD of the concert / an album / and a single will be released in early 2004. This first song that Bono and The Edge performed was a new song called American Prayer. They were joined by Dave Stewart (of The Eurythmics) and Beyonce (who dueted with Bono).

Bono: ?It?s funny how religious people can be the most judgmental. Anyway this a song we wrote. It?s called American Prayer. Could be called Irish Prayer or African Prayer. It?s just a message to the Churches that we really need you to open your door ? to give sanctuary ? to break the stigmatization that goes along with being HIV Positive. If God loves you ? then what?s the problem??

And this is the time to finish what you started
This is no time to dream
And this is the room
We can turn off the dark tonight
Maybe then we might see

I want to feel the healing of American Prayer
I want to know the meaning of American Prayer
I want to believe in American Prayer

And this is the ground
That keeps our feet from getting wet
And this is the sky over our head
Remember that, what you see depends on where you stand
And how you jump will tell you where you're gonna land

I want to feel the healing of American Prayer
I want to know the meaning of American Prayer
I want to believe in American Prayer
But I can hear children screaming American Prayer

Hold on Hold on
Let's not get tired
To kick at the darkness
And make the light brighter

Ohhhhh African Prayer
I want to feel the healing of African Prayer
I want to know the meaning of African Prayer
I want to believe in African Prayer
But I can hear children screaming African Prayer

(Additional lyrics which were included at the end of the song during Bono?s Heart Of America tour (awareness raising of the AIDS emergency / debts / unfair trade / etc. in Africa) during December of 2002 ? from u2wanderer.org)

These are the hands
What are we going to build with them?
And this is a church you can't see
Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses
You know they're yearning to breathe free

Ah ah ah ah American Prayer
Ah ah ah ah American Prayer

Halle, halle, oh
Halle, halle, oh
(We heard about Dr. King this evening)
(Let's think about this)

If you get to the top of the mountain
Will you tell me what you see?
If you get to the top of the mountain
Remember me
If you get to the top of the mountain
Will you tell me what you see?
If you get to the top of the mountain
Remember me
Remember me / Oh, you got to remember me
Remember me / Oh, remember me
Remember me / Yeah remember me
Remember me

(Lyrics by Bono & Dave Stewart, Music by U2 & The Gateway Ambassadors ? last section from u2wanderer.org)

 

[verte76]

Hey, thanks for posting this!! Bono rocks!!

 

[U2Soar]

A new quote. I think this is the first time Bono has used The Good Samaritan (?)

"This is the defining moral issue of our time," Bono said in phone call from Washington. He had just returned from South Africa. "If you remember the story of the Good Samaritan, well, when it comes to Africa, we're not just crossing the road to avoid the man who needs help, we're catching a bus in the other direction." "The U.S. is planning to double its aid to Africa. That's good news," he said. "And I think the American church is finally waking up to the emergency. The sleeping giant is lumbering to its feet and realizing AIDS is a bit like leprosy in the time of Christ.? "The church is realizing, hey, aren't we supposed to hang out with these people and help them?" And a rock star shall lead them. (Bono Hopes You, Too, Will Care - David Waters - Memphis Commercial-Appeal - December 13, 2003)

 

[U2Soar]

It was last year (that I can remember ? right after the G8 Summit in Canada in late June (?)> ?waking the sleeping giant > the Church?) that Bono began speaking about and working for the role of the Church (= all Christian communities) in the liberation of Africa (from debt / disease / fair trade / etc.). Since then he has used a video message that was broadcast at Christian Music Festivals (too bad it was broadcast within worship services in churches themselves followed by a sermon on its message); using this video message in the Church undertaking ? The aWake Project book - in the Fall of 2002; speaking in churches and Christian colleges during the Heart Of America Tour in Fall of 2002; speaking to Christian music artists last December (with the result of the album In The Name Of Love: Artists United For Africa due out in January 2004); joining with Church leaders at the National Press Conference to call on Congress to ?Keep America?s Promise To Africa? on September 16 / 2003 in Washington D.C.; addressing the Church at the 46664 Concert; and publicly acknowledging the contribution of the Church (?Bono largely credits people of faith with motivating politicians and ultimately President Bush to pony up unprecedented funding for African AIDS relief.?) in an interview during the first week of December. (Though I can not help but think of the missed opportunity with the World Youth Day (week) in Toronto in late July 2002. ?Pope John Paul II told ?.. 600,000 young people gathered from around the globe. The next day he urged an audience that had swollen to 800,000.? (biblenetworknews.com) It was broadcast live across the nation too. It would have been an excellent occasion for the same video message that was being sent around to the Christian Music Festivals that summer to be shown to such a huge number of people!)

I believe it is a good and necessary move for this campaign since the Church still represents a significant segment of the population. Hopefully and possibly the Church can be an effective ally in this African Human Rights Movement (AHRM)

It would make an interesting interview question for Bono: ?Since it came at a later stage in your work for Africa - what was the specific experience / the turning point in your decision to work towards ?waking the sleeping giant ? the Church? in regards to Africa?? Maybe it was an unexpected conversation or maybe seeing firsthand a group of Sisters working in Africa or maybe it was it was challenge from one of his daughters?

We all know about Bono?s longstanding and even public distrust and disconnect with the Church (due to his negative experiences of Catholic and Protestant violence in Ireland / the Shalom Group / etc.) [?religion is often an obstacle to God? / ?religion is often what happens when God has left the building? / etc.]. Who knows if Bono will encounter enough positive experiences with individuals / certain groups / and the Church as a whole in the AHRM to influence his own personal view and relationship with the Church?

 

[sarah_U27]

Thank you for posting this. It's nice to have his 'sermons' in one place.

 

[spanisheyes]

Yes, thanks U2Soar...great to have all these wonderful words of Bono about his faith and the church in one place.

 

[Keocmb]

He's so all over the place about religion to me. The link between the Bible and his affinity for the Pope and his quotes from Larry King about religion being the opposite of spirituality is just so confusing to me. I understand where he's coming from and everything on its own sounds great, I just don't get his personal preference - the bedside prayers he says at night. It all rolls into one big tumbleweed and clogs my brain until I see are those blue eyes. I don't know the boy is at.

And maybe that's the point.

 

[BVS]

He's so all over the place about religion to me. The link between the Bible and his affinity for the Pope and his quotes from Larry King about religion being the opposite of spirituality is just so confusing to me. I understand where he's coming from and everything on its own sounds great, I just don't get his personal preference - the bedside prayers he says at night. It all rolls into one big tumbleweed and clogs my brain until I see are those blue eyes. I don't know the boy is at.

And maybe that's the point.

I've always had a very similar outlook on Christianity as Bono, so it's never really confused me.

 

[verte76]

He's so all over the place about religion to me. The link between the Bible and his affinity for the Pope and his quotes from Larry King about religion being the opposite of spirituality is just so confusing to me. I understand where he's coming from and everything on its own sounds great, I just don't get his personal preference - the bedside prayers he says at night. It all rolls into one big tumbleweed and clogs my brain until I see are those blue eyes. I don't know the boy is at.

And maybe that's the point.

Well, perhaps. But I used to be in a position vis-a-vis the church alot like this. I didn't know what I wanted from the church, to be honest, and I was always changing my attitude towards the church. Then things changed rather drastically and I became a Catholic (I was raised a Protestant). Even so, I'm still spiritually restless, with plenty of questions and doubts. I attend mass, prayer meetings, etc, etc, but I still feel I understand where Bono's coming from. He has issues I don't, being Irish while I'm from the U.S. where those bad things with Catholics and Protestants are not happening. That has got to be really painful for a sensitive person like Bono. I'm luckier in that respect I think.