It happened at the moment in U2\u2019s Zoo TV show where Bono did his \u201cElvis-devil dance,\u201d decked out in a glittering gold Las Vegas lounge suit and tacky red horns.<\/p>\n\n
As usual, the charismatic 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.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAre you still a believer?\u201d, she asked. \u201cIf so, what are you doing dressed up as the devil?\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Bono gave her a serious answer, as the music roared on. \u201cHave you read \u2018The Screwtape Letters,\u2019 a book by C.S. Lewis that a lot of intense Christians are plugged into? They are letters from the devil. That\u2019s where I got the whole philosophy of mock-the-devil-and-he-will-flee-from-you,\u201d replied Bono, referring to U2\u2019s ironic, video-drenched tours in the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n
Yes, the girl said, she had read \u201cThe Screwtape Letters.\u201d She understood that Lewis had turned sin inside out in order to make a case for faith.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThen you know what I am doing,\u201d said Bono.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s highly unlikely Mister MacPhisto will make an appearance when U2 rocks the Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show. During their recent \u201cElevation\u201d tour, U2 performed on a stage shaped like a heart and Bono opened the shows by kneeling in prayer. He began the anthem \u201cWhere the Streets Have No Name\u201d by quoting from Psalm 116 and shows ended with shouts of \u201cPraise! Unto the Almighty!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But whatever happens Sunday in New Orleans, U2\u2019s presence almost guarantees that people will dissect it in church coffee hours as well as at watercoolers. Plenty of believers remain convinced Bono\u2019s devil suit was more than symbolic.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think they have been clear \u2014 for nearly 25 years now \u2014 about the role that Christian faith plays in their music. They\u2019re not hiding anything,\u201dsaid the Rev. Steve Stockman, the Presbyterian chaplain at Queen\u2019s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author of \u201cWalk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2\u201d and hosts BBC\u2019s \u201cRhythm and Soul\u201d radio program.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAt the same time, they have always left big spiritual questions hanging out there \u2014 unanswered. That is an interesting way to talk about art and that\u2019s an interesting way to live out your faith, especially when you\u2019re trying to do it in front of millions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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 it comes to sin, grace, temptation, damnation, salvation, revelation or the general state of the universe. Two others \u2014 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., and guitarist Dave \u201cThe Edge\u201d Evans \u2014 have long identified themselves as Christians. Bassist Adam Clayton remains a spiritual free agent.<\/p>\n\n
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 an evangelical subculture of \u201cChristian news,\u201d \u201cChristian radio\u201d and \u201cChristian music.\u201d The tiny number of Protestants prevented the creation of a \u201cChristian\u201d marketplace.<\/p>\n\n
Thus, U2 plunged into real rock \u2018n\u2019 roll because that was the only game in town. U2 didn\u2019t collide with the world of \u201cContemporary Christian Music\u201d until its first American tours. Then all hell broke loose.<\/p>\n\n
While the secular press rarely ridicules the band\u2019s faith, noted Stockman, the \u201cChristian press and Christians in general have been the doubters\u201d who were keen to \u201cdenounce the band\u2019s Christian members as lost.\u201d Many have heaped \u201ccondemnation on their lifestyles, which include smoking cigars, drinking Jack Daniels and using language that is not common currency at Southern Baptist conventions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s crucial that most U2 controversies center on lifestyle issues. But Stockman is convinced that deeper divisions center on what Bono and company are saying \u2014 in word and deed \u2014 about the church\u2019s retreat from art, media and popular culture.<\/p>\n\n
The contemporary church \u201chas put a spiritual hierarchy on jobs,\u201d said Stockman. \u201cMinisters 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It happened at the moment in U2\u2019s Zoo TV show where Bono did his \u201cElvis-devil dance,\u201d decked out in a glittering gold Las Vegas lounge suit and tacky red horns. As usual, the charismatic singer pulled some girl out of the crowd to cavort with Mister MacPhisto, this devilish alter ego. On this night in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,172,885],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art","tag-ccm-and-contemporary-christian-music","tag-u2"],"yoast_head":"\n