Stockman doing interviews!

[MadelynIris]

Found this on usenet:

This article was in the relgion section of today's Macomb Daily
> newspaper in Michigan .Author listed as Scripps Howard News Service.
> It happened at the moment in U2's "Zoo"TV show where Bono did his
> "Elvis-devil dance,"decked out in a glittering gold Las Vegas lounge
> suit and tacky red horns. As usual, the chaismatic singer pulled some
> girl out of the crowd to cavort with Mister Macphisto, this devilish
> alter ego. On this night in Wales , his dance partner had her own
> agenda, Bono told the Irish Times . "Are you still a belever?" she
> asked. "If so,what are you doing dressed up as the devil?" Bono gave her
> a serious answer , as the music roared on . "Have you read "The
> Screwtape Letters" , a book by C.S. Lewis that alot of intense
> Christians are plugged into? They are letters from the devil. That's
> where I got the whole philosophy of
> mock-the-devil-and-he-will-flee-from-you," replied Bono , refering to
> U2's ironic, video-drenched tours in the 1990's. Yes, the girl said ,
> she had read the book. She understood that Lewis had tuned sin inside
> out in order to make a case for faith. "Then you know what I am dong ,"
> said Bono. It's highly unlikely Miser Macphisto will make an appearance
> when U2 rocks the Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show. During their recent
> "Elevation" tour , U2 performed on a stage shaped like a heart and Bono
> opened the shows by kneeling in prayer. He began the anthem "Where the
> Streets Have No Name" by quoting from Psalm 116 and shows ended with
> shouts of "Praise! Unto the Almighty!" But whatever happens Sunday in
> New Orleans, U2's presense almost guarantees that people will dissect in
> church coffee hours as well as at water coolers. Plenty of believers
> remain convinced Bono's devil suit was more than symbolic. "I think
> they have been clear- for nearly 25 years now- about the role that
> Christian faith plays in their music. They're not hiding anything,"
> said the Rev. Steve Stockman , the Presbyterian chaplain at Queen's
> University in Belfast, Northern Ireland . He is the author of "Walk On
> : The Spiritual Journey of U2" and hosts BBC's "Rhythm and Soul" radio
> program. "At the same time , tey have always left big spiritual
> questions hanging out there-unanswered. That is an interesting way to
> talk about art and way to live out your faith , especially when you're
> trying to do it in front of millions of people ." Stockman has never
> met the band. Still, there is no shortage of source material since Bono
> , in particular, has never been able to keep his mouth shut when t comes
> to personal or politcal views. Two others , Lary Mullen Jr. and Dave
> "The Edge" Evans , have long identified themselves as Christians . Adam
> Clayton remains a spiritual free agent . The key, said Stockman , is
> that U2 emerged in Dublin , Ireland , in a culturally Catholic land in
> which it was impossible to be sucked into a Protestant evangelical
> subcuture of "Christian news, radio, and music . " The tiny number of
> Protestants prevented the creation of a "Christian " marketplace . Thus,
> U2 plunged into real rock 'n' roll because that was the only game in
> town . U2 didn't collide with the world of "Contemporary Christian
> Music" untill its first American tours. Then all hell broke loose .
> While the secular press rarely ridicules the band's faith , noted
> Stockman, the " Christian press and Christians in general have been the
> doubters" who were keen to "denouce the band's Christian members as
> lost." It's crucial that most U2 contoversies center on lifestyle
> issues . But Stockman is convinced that deeper divisions center on what
> Bono and company are saing- in word and deed- about the church's retreat
> from art, media, and popular culture . The contemporary church "has put
> a spiritual hierarchy on jobs," said Stockman . "Ministers and
> missionaries are on top , then perhaps doctors and nurses come next
> and so on to the bottom , where artists appear. Artists of whatever kind
> have to compromise everything to entertain . Art is fluffy froth that
> is no good in the Kingdom of God. What nonsense."

Cool.

Mark
http://www.mp3.com/madelyniris

 

[MadelynIris]

And here is an amazing set of responses to this article.

WOW!
http://www.beliefnet.com/boards_mini/index.asp?pageID=1&boardID=11669&pageloc=/story/67/story_6758_1.html

 

[MadelynIris]

Oops - I see this article was posted on another thread.

sorry.

I now dedicate this thread to articles on U2's spirituality that everyone has probably seen before, but will post them here just to have a nice list.

Here's another one.
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/67/story_6758_1.html&boardID=11669

 

[MadelynIris]

Another article - this one from 8 Feb.

Coming Up at the Half: Jesus and Bono
U2's performance at the Super Bowl was a Christian rave-up

Beliefnet, February 08, 2002


Paul O'Donnell

The war against terrorism isn't supposed to be a battle between Christianity and Islam, but no one seemed to have told the Super Bowl organizers, the ones who booked the rock supergroup U2 for the halftime show. As it turned out, the country's first high-profile National Security Event was the biggest Christian display at a gladiatorial show since Ben Hur.

For most Americans, U2's performance, featuring lead-singer Bono's stroll through an on-field crowd to a heart-shaped stage and his display of Sept. 11 solidarity when he flashed open his black leather jacket to reveal an American flag, was just another tribute to the American victims of terrorism.

But many Gen-Y Christians look to U2 as the standard-bearers of a passionate, think-outside-the-church faith. To them, Sunday's performance was perhaps the band's most strident confirmation yet that they accept the charge. U2 also injected religion into our remembrance of Sept. 11 in a way that hasn't been seen since immediately after the attacks. "This is the first tribute I've seen that has brought in the souls and heaven. It gave a whole new context to that event," says Cameron Strang, publisher of a soon-to-be launched Christian magazine, Relevant. "It's going to be a moment that our generation shared."

U2's religious connections have been subjected to a kind of rolling reality check, administered by Christian fans and mainstream press alike, since their spiritually preoccupied second album, October. With the release of their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, in the United States, however, Christians adopted them unconditionally as heroes. That album's radio hit, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," a seeming plea for redemption, became a Christian anthem. "You loosed the chains," Bono sang, "Carried the cross, and my shame. You know I believe it." Another track, "Where the Streets Have No Name," was cited as a reference to heaven.

But religious references from a band from Ireland could be nothing more than poetic allusion, and Bono has spoken frequently about his faith, without allowing himself to be nailed down about precisely what he believes. Last year, Bono told Beliefnet he'd "like to be a Christian," but added, "I sometimes feel more like a fan, rather than actually in the band. I can't live up to it." Even Christians have objected that no one sold on Jesus could say he hasn't found what he's looking for. Other critics have come up with competing interpretations for "Where the Streets Have No Name." Couldn't Bono be imagining a world undivided by hatred based on racial and ethnic labels-a Belfast without a Shankill Road?

Sunday's performance of that song, though, seemed to favor an explicitly Christian reading. Reprising a segment from their recent arena show, the band played a song from their new album, then launched into "Where the Streets Have No Name" while a screen behind them scrolled the names of those who died on Sept. 11. "I thought it had never been connected more closely" as an image of heaven, says Strang.

What's more, Strang says he and a friend slowed down a videotape of the show to understand a phrase Bono muttered in the transition between songs. "He quoted Psalm 51:15," Strang says, "'O Lord open my lips and my mouth show forth thy praise.' Then he said, 'Yes, America.'"

Despite the "Paul is dead" vibe in such frame-by-frame sleuthing, Strang's antennae aren't the only ones quivering. It's not uncommon for Bono to quote the Bible from the stage, but since U2 began touring in the fall, Christians have sensed a new Christian surge from the band. Some have reported feeling more inspired by the two hour concert than any church service in memory. "There's been a very noticeable return to a focus on spiritual things, or more accurately "Christian" things," says Wendy Lee Nentwig, a former editor at CCM magazine, the Rolling Stone of Christian rock. "My take is, Bono is settling into his faith, feeling like he has less to prove, getting tired of playing characters on stage and more content to be himself."

Doubtless, the NFL and its party planners had no intention of turning the halftime show into a religious blowback to those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. (If anyone took offense at Bono's appearance, it was because the star had flown straight from New York, where he had lobbied against the evils of global capitalism at the World Economic Forum, to New Orleans, where he performed at global capitalism's high holiday.) Christian kids were likely too busy bouncing off the walls to think of the geopolitical implications, and Al-Qaeda probably didn't notice. But just in case: with baseball season coming up, is Muhammad Ali available to throw out the first ball?


? Beliefnet.com, 2002