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the names of those lost on Sept. 11 scrolled up a towering screen,
the singer kept reciting a verse from Psalm 51, in which King David
pleaded for God's mercy.
"Oh Lord,
open my lips," he said, "that my mouth shall show forth
thy praise." Then the music rose in a crescendo, soaring into
U2's vision of a new heaven and earth, of a city "where there's
no sorrow and no shame, where the streets have no name."
This didn't
happen in a safe Christian sanctuary. This happened at halftime
of Super Bowl XXXVI, in front of 131 million or so viewers around
the world. But anyone who felt blindsided by this display of prayer
hasn't listened carefully to this band's music, said the Rev. Steve
Stockman, author of Walk
On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 and Presbyterian chaplain
of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
"I think
they have been clear — for nearly25 years now — about
the role Christian faith plays in their music. They're not hiding
anything," he said. "At the same time, they have always
left big spiritual questions hanging out there — unanswered.
That is an interesting way to talk about art and that's an interesting
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 quotable material
since Bono, in particular, has never been able to keep his mouth
shut when it comes to sin, grace, temptation, damnation, salvation
and revelation. Two others — drummer Larry Mullen Jr., and
guitarist Dave "The Edge" Evans — have long identified
themselves as Christians. Bassist 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 an evangelical
subculture of "Christian radio" and "Christian 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. The band didn't collide with "Contemporary
Christian Music" until its first American tours.
While secular
scribes rarely ridicule the band's faith, the "Christian press
and Christians in general have been the doubters," keen to
"denounce the band's Christian members as lost," noted
Stockman. Many have heaped "condemnation on their lifestyles,
which include smoking cigars, drinking Jack Daniels and using language
that is not common currency at Southern Baptist conventions."
It also helps
to know that Bono has always had a love-hate relationship with rock
stardom. In the early days, other Christians said the band should
break up or flee into "Christian rock," arguing that fame
always corrupts. The members of U2 decided otherwise, and, early
on, Bono began speaking out about his faith and his doubts, his
joys, and his failures.
"I don't
believe in preaching at people," he told me, during a 1982
interview. A constant theme in his music, he added, is the soul-spinning
confusion that results when spirituality, sensuality, ego and sin
form a potion that is both intoxicating and toxic. "The truth
is that we are all sinners. I always include myself in the 'we.'
... I'm not telling everybody that I have the answers. I'm trying
to get across the difficulty that I have being what I am."
Bono took this
inner conflict on stage during the media-drenched Zoo TV shows of
the mid-1990s. The key moment was when the singer morphed into a
devilish alter ego named Mister MacPhisto, who wore a glittering
gold Las Vegas lounge suit and cheesy red horns.
Night after
night, Bono would pull some girl out of the audience to join in
his "Elvis-devil dance." Stockman's book includes a fascinating
account of what happened one night in Wales, when one of these dance
partners had an agenda of her own.
"Are you
still a believer?", she asked. "If so, what are you doing
dressed up as the devil?"
Their voices
hidden by the music, Bono gave her a serious answer. "Have
you read The Screwtape Letters, a book by C.S. Lewis that
a lot 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,"
said Bono.
Yes, the girl
said, she had read The Screwtape Letters. She understood
that Lewis had turned sin inside out in order to make a case for
faith.
"Then
you know what I am doing," said Bono.
But no matter
what happens on stage, plenty of believers remain convinced that
Bono's devil suit was highly appropriate. While the singer and his
band mates have made some mistakes, Stockman said he is convinced
that the controversies that continually swirl around U2 are actually
evidence of deeper divisions among believers.
U2 is attacking,
in word and deed, the modern church's retreat from art and popular
culture.
The 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."
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