AMAZING GRACE FROM THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Finding God in unexpected places
A journalist queries celebrities about God.
The answers are sometimes surprising.

By Jane Lampman

On the brink of her teen years, Cathleen Falsani experienced one of those indelible moments that can orient a life. A friend put a rock album on the stereo, and a raspy voice shouted out praise to God. It was a revelation to the highly religious youngster.

“I was absolutely transfixed by the extraordinary mix of faith with rock ‘n’ roll – a forbidden fruit at our house,” she writes.

That introduction to the legendary Irish band, U2, set her “on a course that continues today: To discover God in the places some people say God isn’t supposed to be. To look for the truly sacred in the supposedly profane.”

Ms. Falsani is now a syndicated religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times (and an evangelical Christian). She has pursued that quest particularly among prominent shapers of popular culture who have helped to mold America’s “collective consciousness.”

In an absorbing first book – The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People – she takes the reader along on spirited, often-surprising interviews with more than two dozen creative artists and thought-leaders. The journey becomes engrossing because of the remarkable openness and candor she encounters among the famous, as well as the depth and variety of their beliefs.

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