When people think of Christians in the music industry, they tend to think of Cliff Richard, or possibly Amy Grant. Some, but not many however, might think of Bono.
This aspect of Bono perplexes and infuriates some Christians and non-Christians alike as he doesn't fall into neat boxes. For example, he is wary of calling himself a Christian, he drinks, smokes, and swears, and most shockingly of all he co-wrote a song called I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For, and yet he also co-wrote a song called When Love Comes To Town.
Those are the kind of statements that fail to understand varying degrees of Christian culture, or indeed the various subtleties involved. With "I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For", there are lines in the song that affirm atonement, grace, and "I believe in the kingdom come"
Born and brought up in Dublin to a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, Paul David Hewson (his real name), was brought up as a member of the Church of Ireland and has stated that in terms of denominational identity he has always liked to sit on the fence. He experienced a renewal of faith as a young man when he and two others from U2 were involved in the "Shalom" Community, although they left when the community told them that God was telling them to give up their music, reasoning that it was easily possible to reconcile Christianity with rock and roll.
A lot of Bono's faith (and that of The Edge and Larry Mullen) is present in their songs, such as "Wake Up Dead Man" , "When Love Comes to Town", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For ". He also feels strongly about Third World Debt being a moral issue of being more than charity, saying that it is an issue of justice.
Passionate, articulate, occasionally acerbic in ways that can annoy people, some wonder how Bono can equate his faith with what he does,especially as he isn't keen of an 'In Your Face' style of prostelysing. But if he is anything, Paul David Hewson tries to be honest.
Qui Bono! ;)
3 comments:
Excellent stuff there. I find often in Cambridge a big emphasis on personal piety and relationship with God (extremely important), but not enough on our outer relationships with the world. So lots of Christians aren't involved in politics because they don't think it affects them and their relationship with God. I do wonder what Bible they've been reading.
True.
I think our relationship with the world is what God regards as one of the most important things about us!
Bono bugs me a little bit to tell the truth because he always appears so desparate to be cool. I dunno - maybe it's part of the act of something.
Swearing isn't the worst of sins and maybe it's not a sin at all but I'm pleased when my kids stand up to peer pressure and refuse to swear. As a Christian, I can take it from Bob Geldof a bit more because he's not a Christian and he also chooses causes that aren't so trendy (like Fathers for Justice) and says things that are not always PC.
I'd like Bono more if he stopped swearing. That would be a cooler punkier thing to do in my book.
I'd like my kids to be honest and to engage with the world but I don't want them going around swearing and smoking and drinking excessively (or pretending to) and going on about how honest and 'real' they are compared to other Christians.
Still, Bono's not the worst and he has done a lot of good things so let's not be too hard on him - maybe just give him a little kick in the shins everytime he swears - that might so it!
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