{"id":65302,"date":"2009-02-15T13:37:39","date_gmt":"2009-02-15T21:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.org\/?p=65302"},"modified":"2013-03-30T11:52:23","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T17:52:23","slug":"behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty… and His Christian Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn\u2019t a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.<\/p>\n

And here he is again, in a monster of an article about the band and its singer, talking about the steep climb of putting faith into action (and into art) while world-famous:<\/a><\/p>\n

SOH <\/strong>What intrigues me, though, is this tricky place you are in, which is quite unprecedented in pop star terms. You have used your celebrity to go into the world of political activism, but also the world of corporate wealth and the super-rich, and all in the cause of fighting poverty. It\u2019s a tricky place for a rock\u2019n\u2019roller to be.<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cI know, I know. It\u2019s dangerous. And it worries Larry, and it worries the whole band, if truth be told. But, you know, here\u2019s the thing \u2013 they thought, all of them, Larry, Edge, Adam, that my campaigning would sink the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOH<\/strong> The U2 ship?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cYeah! They thought that the rotten tomatoes world rain down and people would not be able to hack it. That was before they started throwing them themselves [laughs]. They thought, one, that it would distract me. And more than that\u2026 They were just not into it at all.<\/p>\n

SOH <\/strong>All three of them were against it?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cOh, I think so. I mean, Edge pleaded with me right at the start not to meet Bush. Five or six years ago. They all did.\u201d
\n
\nSOH<\/strong> Initially, Bush wasn\u2019t so keen on meeting you, either. So how long did it take you to get a meeting with him?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cIt took a while. He just did not want to meet me at first.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOH<\/strong> How much difference does your faith make in these situations \u2013 your Christian faith?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cA big difference. I mean, I had been a serious scourge of the religious right, and particularly the evangelicals, for their inaction on Africa. And, to be fair to them, after taking a serious beating they did get up and do something, and that gave Bush cover on his right flank.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOH<\/strong> Did you ever get into theological debate with Bush?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cOh yeah! I wouldn\u2019t talk about it, but yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOH<\/strong> OK, I have to ask you this one. Did you ever pray with him?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cWhoaah! (He reaches for his drink.) But I didn\u2019t inhale [laughs]. Look, I would always use the scriptures to argue my corner. There are 2,103 verses of scripture pertaining to dealing with the poor. That helps, and it also helps to know that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoy, did my days of Bible study come in handy! And, by the way, it\u2019s an offence to me that religious people can close their eyes to this stuff. It\u2019s just really not allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOH<\/strong> From where I\u2019m sitting, though, a lot of the people that you are bargaining with, and who are undoubtedly helping save lives in Africa, have also, by their actions elsewhere, shown a blatant disregard for human life on a grand scale. Surely, that, too, is their legacy?<\/p>\n

Bono<\/strong> \u201cLook, it\u2019s appalling and shocking and not ever excusable, the waste of human life. But on our issues, all I can say to you is that there are 29 million children in Africa who were not going to school and who now are. That\u2019s just in seven years. Now, that\u2019s not an excuse for a wrong-headed adventure. It\u2019s not an excuse. But I don\u2019t believe Tony Blair is evil. I know him enough to know that he is a sincere and serious person who would in any unserious way make those decisions and, though I disagreed with those decisions at the time, I think it\u2019s really simplistic to think that he is anyone\u2019s poodle.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn\u2019t a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed. And here he is again, in a monster of an article about the band and its singer, talking about the steep climb of putting faith into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[763,899,395],"class_list":["post-65302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-bono","tag-christianity","tag-u2"],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty... and His Christian Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn't a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty... and His Christian Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn't a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Looking Closer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-15T21:37:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-30T17:52:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey Overstreet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey Overstreet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/\",\"name\":\"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty... and His Christian Faith\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-15T21:37:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-30T17:52:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/2675c6d9f6401acd7568e32160e5374e\"},\"description\":\"Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn't a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty… and His Christian Faith\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/\",\"name\":\"Looking Closer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/2675c6d9f6401acd7568e32160e5374e\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey Overstreet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14a7727373cd5b470d66842ecf5cc007?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14a7727373cd5b470d66842ecf5cc007?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Jeffrey Overstreet\"},\"description\":\"Visit Looking Closer for Jeffrey Overstreet's latest writing on art, faith, and film. Jeffrey teaches writing and film at Seattle Pacific University. He left the Patheos network in 2015.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/author\/jeffreyoverstreet\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty... and His Christian Faith","description":"Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn't a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty... and His Christian Faith","og_description":"Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn't a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/","og_site_name":"Looking Closer","article_published_time":"2009-02-15T21:37:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-03-30T17:52:23+00:00","author":"Jeffrey Overstreet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeffrey Overstreet","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/","name":"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty... and His Christian Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-02-15T21:37:39+00:00","dateModified":"2013-03-30T17:52:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/2675c6d9f6401acd7568e32160e5374e"},"description":"Believe it or not, I still hear Christians who declare that Bono isn't a believer. In spite of his testimonies in public, in print, in music, and in deed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2009\/02\/behind-the-scenes-with-bono-rock-politics-poverty-and-his-christian-faith\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Behind the Scenes with Bono: Rock, Politics, Poverty… and His Christian Faith"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/","name":"Looking Closer","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/2675c6d9f6401acd7568e32160e5374e","name":"Jeffrey Overstreet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14a7727373cd5b470d66842ecf5cc007?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14a7727373cd5b470d66842ecf5cc007?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Jeffrey Overstreet"},"description":"Visit Looking Closer for Jeffrey Overstreet's latest writing on art, faith, and film. Jeffrey teaches writing and film at Seattle Pacific University. He left the Patheos network in 2015.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/author\/jeffreyoverstreet\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}