ANTI-RELIGION
|
|
jesus constantly denounced the hypocritical and selfish behaviour of the teachers of law and religious scholars. likewise, bono has little time for the hypocrites of his time - the catholics and protestants fighting against one another in his homeland. bono grew up seeing the ugly side of religion, and the way it could pervert the teachings of jesus. remarkably, though, he maintained a raw belief in god which propelled him outward to search for the truth behind religion, before all the scaffolding was erected and we reduced god to a mere set of rules and regulations. |
Sex and music is all a lot of people got right now, because organised religion is in demise, and I personally won't miss it. I don't think religion has anything to do with God anymore or very rarely has. October 1, 1992 – Rolling Stone Article "U2 Finds What It's Looking For" by David Fricke
I don't doubt God. I have a firm faith and absolute faith in God. It's religion I'm doubting. December 1, 2002 – Larry King (CNN) Interview
I don’t see Jesus as being part of any religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and people devise a set of rules to fill the space. February 1982 – Bono In His Own Words
Religion often reduces the size of God. God is so big. It's a gigantic concept: God. The idea that a God might love us and be interested in us is kind of huge and gigantic, but we turn it, because we're small-minded, into this tiny, petty, often greedy version of God, that is religion. December 1, 2002 - Larry King (CNN) Interview
I don’t consider myself to be a very religious person. Religion where I come from, which is Ireland, Dublin Ireland, is an ugly word – it’s torn our country in two. I’m more interested in the root of religion. I am a Christian, but I don’t talk about it so easily. I think there’s too many people shouting their mouths off about too many things at the moment, so I just try to be quiet. Also, it’s very hard to express a lot of the feelings I have, that’s why I write songs. April 23, 1983 – Interview with WKZL
I think the Church is a big problem. February 1981 – Bono In His Own Words
I think people understand now that I’m not religious, they understand that I’m nearly anti-religion… when I talk of religion I’m talking about the force that’s cut this country in two. February 1982 – Bono In His Own Words
Religion frightens me. Our country has been torn in two by religion. I don’t think Jesus Christ would have much time for a lot of the fighting and bickering that goes on. April 1985 – Interview with WAPP Hot 103 (New York, USA)
The Church is an empty, hollow building. It’s the edifice. The established Church is the edifice of Christianity. It’s as if when the Spirit of God leaves a place, the only things that are left are the pillars of rules and regulations to keep its roof on. January 1985 – Bono In His Own Words
Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship. 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assayas
I don’t think there’s an easy solution to what’s going on in Ireland. I think a change of heart… is what we need. Sunday Bloody Sunday is not a rebel song. It simply says why are we so wrapped up in this struggle over a piece of land, and supposed differences and doctrine? When the real battle – which is putting the city back on its feet again, which is putting food in people’s bellies around the world… While the real battle rages, we are fighting over small, insignificant, aspects of politics. February 1983 – Interview with Vara (Netherlands)
Let’s not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows, the colors of Catholicism – purple, mauve, yellow, red – the burning incense… 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assayas
My mate Gavin Friday used to say: "Roman Catholicism is the Glamrock of religion" with its candles and psychedelic colours – cardinal blues, scarlets and purples – smoke bombs of incense and the ring of the little bell. 1999 – The Book of Psalms (Introduction by Bono)
...my Goliath became religion itself: I began to see religion as the perversion of faith. I began to see God everywhere else. In girls, fun, music, justice and still – despite the lofty King James translation – the Scriptures. 1999 – The Book of Psalms (Introduction by Bono)
Who in Ireland could have too much respect for organized religion? We've seen it tear our country in two. My mother was a Protestant. My father was a Catholic. And I learnt that religion is often the enemy of God, actually. December 1, 2002 - Larry King (CNN) Interview
Religion is the artifice, you know, the building, after God has left it sometimes, like Elvis has left the building. You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough. December 1, 2002 - Larry King (CNN) Interview
I think we were trying to contrast East Sunday with Sunday Bloody Sunday which is an incident in Derry where thirteen people were shot dead by the British paratroopers, something that’s still under investigation. And I think we were just trying to say, isn’t this mad these religious people fighting amongst each other, when the heart of both of their belief systems is this idea of Easter Sunday. August 2001 – Elevation: The U2 Story
What’s often bothered me about the fundamentalists is that they seem preoccupied with the most obvious sins. If those sins, sexual immortality and drug addiction, come out of unhappiness, then I’m sure God wants to set people free of that unhappiness. But I couldn’t figure out why the same people were never questioning the deeper, slyer problems of the human spirit like self-righteousness, judgmentalism, institutional greed, corporate greed. 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assays
We thought they were trampling over the most precious thing of all: the concept that God is love. These televangelists, they were the traders inside the temple, that story where Jesus overturned their tables. They were putting people off God, especially young people who didn’t want to admit to being Christians anymore. Because in clubs, on campuses, everywhere, people would say: “You’re part of that. They’re nuts!” 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assays
I don't doubt God. I have a firm faith and absolute faith in God. It's religion I'm doubting. December 1, 2002 – Larry King (CNN) Interview
I don’t see Jesus as being part of any religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and people devise a set of rules to fill the space. February 1982 – Bono In His Own Words
Religion often reduces the size of God. God is so big. It's a gigantic concept: God. The idea that a God might love us and be interested in us is kind of huge and gigantic, but we turn it, because we're small-minded, into this tiny, petty, often greedy version of God, that is religion. December 1, 2002 - Larry King (CNN) Interview
I don’t consider myself to be a very religious person. Religion where I come from, which is Ireland, Dublin Ireland, is an ugly word – it’s torn our country in two. I’m more interested in the root of religion. I am a Christian, but I don’t talk about it so easily. I think there’s too many people shouting their mouths off about too many things at the moment, so I just try to be quiet. Also, it’s very hard to express a lot of the feelings I have, that’s why I write songs. April 23, 1983 – Interview with WKZL
I think the Church is a big problem. February 1981 – Bono In His Own Words
I think people understand now that I’m not religious, they understand that I’m nearly anti-religion… when I talk of religion I’m talking about the force that’s cut this country in two. February 1982 – Bono In His Own Words
Religion frightens me. Our country has been torn in two by religion. I don’t think Jesus Christ would have much time for a lot of the fighting and bickering that goes on. April 1985 – Interview with WAPP Hot 103 (New York, USA)
The Church is an empty, hollow building. It’s the edifice. The established Church is the edifice of Christianity. It’s as if when the Spirit of God leaves a place, the only things that are left are the pillars of rules and regulations to keep its roof on. January 1985 – Bono In His Own Words
Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship. 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assayas
I don’t think there’s an easy solution to what’s going on in Ireland. I think a change of heart… is what we need. Sunday Bloody Sunday is not a rebel song. It simply says why are we so wrapped up in this struggle over a piece of land, and supposed differences and doctrine? When the real battle – which is putting the city back on its feet again, which is putting food in people’s bellies around the world… While the real battle rages, we are fighting over small, insignificant, aspects of politics. February 1983 – Interview with Vara (Netherlands)
Let’s not get too hard on the Holy Roman Church. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows, the colors of Catholicism – purple, mauve, yellow, red – the burning incense… 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assayas
My mate Gavin Friday used to say: "Roman Catholicism is the Glamrock of religion" with its candles and psychedelic colours – cardinal blues, scarlets and purples – smoke bombs of incense and the ring of the little bell. 1999 – The Book of Psalms (Introduction by Bono)
...my Goliath became religion itself: I began to see religion as the perversion of faith. I began to see God everywhere else. In girls, fun, music, justice and still – despite the lofty King James translation – the Scriptures. 1999 – The Book of Psalms (Introduction by Bono)
Who in Ireland could have too much respect for organized religion? We've seen it tear our country in two. My mother was a Protestant. My father was a Catholic. And I learnt that religion is often the enemy of God, actually. December 1, 2002 - Larry King (CNN) Interview
Religion is the artifice, you know, the building, after God has left it sometimes, like Elvis has left the building. You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough. December 1, 2002 - Larry King (CNN) Interview
I think we were trying to contrast East Sunday with Sunday Bloody Sunday which is an incident in Derry where thirteen people were shot dead by the British paratroopers, something that’s still under investigation. And I think we were just trying to say, isn’t this mad these religious people fighting amongst each other, when the heart of both of their belief systems is this idea of Easter Sunday. August 2001 – Elevation: The U2 Story
What’s often bothered me about the fundamentalists is that they seem preoccupied with the most obvious sins. If those sins, sexual immortality and drug addiction, come out of unhappiness, then I’m sure God wants to set people free of that unhappiness. But I couldn’t figure out why the same people were never questioning the deeper, slyer problems of the human spirit like self-righteousness, judgmentalism, institutional greed, corporate greed. 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assays
We thought they were trampling over the most precious thing of all: the concept that God is love. These televangelists, they were the traders inside the temple, that story where Jesus overturned their tables. They were putting people off God, especially young people who didn’t want to admit to being Christians anymore. Because in clubs, on campuses, everywhere, people would say: “You’re part of that. They’re nuts!” 2005 – In Conversation with Michka Assays