U2charist
Last night I couldn't seem to get to sleep. Withdrawl I think. House is now my Vicodin. Anyway I was flipping channels and I heard mention of U2. I had to stop and watch because they're my all time favorite musical group. There was a news report on how a lot Episcopalian churches were having U2 themed Eucharists. On one level I could kind of understand it, because many of U2's songs have religious themes. Bono has said that he considers "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to be a gospel song and I have heard of gospel choirs singing it.
I was raised in a Baptist church. I went to Sunday school every week when I was a kid until I got old enough to really listen to what they were saying and not really liking it. I wouldn't consider even myself a spiritual person at this point and I don't really understand the fanaticism, intolerance, and lemming effect of most religions. Guess I'm with Elton John on this one.
Anyway, back to this U2 thing. It's not like the choir was singing various supposedly religious themed U2 songs. They were playing U2 on the speakers and people were dancing around, some with glow sticks. Kinda like a concert though without the band. Now I've been to three U2 concerts and I will say those have been more of a religious experience than any I ever had in church, but I guess that makes me a different kind of fanatic.
I heard them play "Pride (In the Name of Love)" which yeah I guess does sound like it could be talking about Jesus, but it was about MLK and specifically mentions his assassination. They also played "I Will Follow" again I can see that and then "Bad" and "Beautiful Day" not so much. I guess they're 'religious' songs to me have always been about the quest to find something to believe, maybe not necessarily traditional religion either.
One of my favorite quotes from Bono is from the live version of 'Bullet the Blue Sky" on Rattle and Hum when he talks about televangelists: "The God I believe in isn't short of cash, mister." The minister of the church made a point of saying offerings on U2 themed nights were quite higher than normal. I wonder what the band thinks of the whole thing, about how their image is being used to market religion. I's just very odd to me.
For more info in the U2 Eucharist I found this article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191761,00.html