The war against terrorism isn’t supposed to be a battle between
Christianity and Islam, but no one seemed to have told the Super Bowl
organizers, the ones who booked the rock supergroup U2 for the
halftime show. As it turned out, the country’s first high-profile
National Security Event was the biggest Christian display at a
gladiatorial show since “Ben Hur.”
For most Americans, U2’s performance, featuring lead-singer Bono’s
stroll through an on-field crowd to a heart-shaped stage and his
display of Sept. 11 solidarity when he flashed open his black leather
jacket to reveal an American flag, was just another tribute to the
American victims of terrorism.
But many Gen-Y Christians look to U2 as the standard-bearers of a
passionate, think-outside-the-church faith. To them, Sunday’s
performance was perhaps the band’s most strident confirmation yet that
they accept the charge. U2 also injected religion into our remembrance
of Sept. 11 in a way that hasn’t been seen since immediately after the
attacks. “This is the first tribute I’ve seen that has brought in the
souls and heaven. It gave a whole new context to that event,” says
Cameron Strang, publisher of a soon-to-be launched Christian magazine,
Relevant. “It’s going to be a moment that our generation shared.”
U2’s religious connections have been subjected to a kind of rolling
reality check, administered by Christian fans and mainstream press
alike, since their spiritually preoccupied second album, “October.”
With the release of their 1987 album, “The Joshua Tree,” in the United
States, however, Christians adopted them unconditionally as heroes.
That album’s radio hit, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,”
a seeming plea for redemption, became a Christian anthem. “You loosed
the chains,” Bono sang, “Carried the cross, and my shame. You know I
believe it.” Another track, “Where the Streets Have No Name,” was
cited as a reference to heaven.
But religious references from a band from Ireland could be nothing
more than poetic allusion, and Bono has spoken frequently about his
faith, without allowing himself to be nailed down about precisely what
he believes. Last year, Bono told Beliefnet he’d “like to be a
Christian,” but added, “I sometimes feel more like a fan, rather than
actually in the band. I can’t live up to it.” Even Christians have
objected that no one sold on Jesus could say he hasn’t found what he’s
looking for. Other critics have come up with competing interpretations
for “Where the Streets Have No Name.” Couldn’t Bono be imagining a
world undivided by hatred based on racial and ethnic labels-a Belfast
without a Shankill Road?
Sunday’s performance of that song, though, seemed to favor an
explicitly Christian reading. Reprising a segment from their recent
arena show, the band played a song from their new album, then launched
into “Where the Streets Have No Name” while a screen behind them
scrolled the names of those who died on Sept. 11. “I thought it had
never been connected more closely” as an image of heaven, says Strang.
What’s more, Strang says he and a friend slowed down a videotape of
the show to understand a phrase Bono muttered in the transition
between songs. “He quoted Psalm 51:15,” Strang says, “‘O Lord open my
lips and my mouth show forth thy praise.’ Then he said, ‘Yes,
America.’”
Despite the “Paul is dead” vibe in such frame-by-frame sleuthing,
Strang’s antennae aren’t the only ones quivering. It’s not uncommon
for Bono to quote the Bible from the stage, but since U2 began touring
in the fall, Christians have sensed a new Christian surge from the
band. Some have reported feeling more inspired by the two hour concert
than any church service in memory. “There’s been a very noticeable
return to a focus on spiritual things, or more accurately “Christian”
things,” says Wendy Lee Nentwig, a former editor at CCM magazine, the
Rolling Stone of Christian rock. ” My take is, Bono is settling into
his faith, feeling like he has less to prove, getting tired of playing
characters on stage and more content to be himself.”
Doubtless, the NFL and its party planners had no intention of turning
the halftime show into a religious blowback to those responsible for
the Sept. 11 attacks. (If anyone took offense at Bono’s appearance, it
was because the star had flown straight from New York, where he had
lobbied against the evils of global capitalism at the World Economic
Forum, to New Orleans, where he performed at global capitalism’s high
holiday.) Christian kids were likely too busy bouncing off the walls
to think of the geopolitical implications, and Al-Qaeda probably
didn’t notice. But just in case: with baseball season coming up, is
Muhammad Ali available to throw out the first ball?
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