tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396019.post113518580169066037..comments2023-09-22T03:30:22.978-04:00Comments on intermittent bright ideas: Persons of the Yearlarzmarshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10461136765568332306noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10396019.post-1135302216371279292005-12-22T20:43:00.000-05:002005-12-22T20:43:00.000-05:00Larz,The bathwater:(from a recent beliefnet interv...Larz,<BR/><BR/>The bathwater:<BR/>(from a recent beliefnet interview)<BR/><BR/>I: For all that, U2 has often been seen as a Christian rock band.<BR/><BR/>"We really f--ked that up, though. We really f--ked up our corner of the Christian market. I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it's to be true and not cover up the cracks. I love hymns and gospel music, but the idea of turning your music into a tool for evangelism is missing the point.<BR/>Music is the language of the spirit anyway. Its first function is praise to creation--praise to the beauty of the woman lying next to you, or the woman you would like to lie next to you." <BR/><BR/><BR/>"Now, for all its failings and its perversions over the last 2,000 years--and as much as every exponent of this faith has attempted to dodge this idea--it is unarguably the central tenet of Christianity: that everybody is equal in God's eyes. So you cannot, as a Christian, walk away from Africa. America will be judged by God if, in its plenty, it crosses the road from 23 million people suffering from HIV, the leprosy of the day. What's up on trial here is Christianity itself. You cannot walk away from this and call yourself a Christian and sit in power. Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it's to have any meaning in this world--and stop being its apologist."<BR/><BR/>-bonoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com