Bono Seeks Answers

If U2 had resolved some of its questions about God and rock 'n' roll differently, fans wouldn't be lining up to buy tickets to their concerts.

Early in the band's career, singer Bono, guitarist The Edge and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. wondered whether they could reconcile rock 'n' roll and Christianity at all.

"We were getting involved in reading books, the Big Book, meeting people who were interested in things spiritual," Bono told Rolling Stone in 1987. "We wanted to do whatever -- at that stage it was probably set up a mission on the street for people who hadn't got any food." 

The trio and bassist Adam Clayton eventually decided they wanted to be a band, launching one of the biggest acts in rock 'n' roll and ongoing speculation and controversy about U2's place in the Christian community.

Supporters have embraced the band's pursuit of social justice and the numerous songs in its catalog that address God and faith. Detractors criticize the band members' "liberal lifestyles" -- i.e., profanity and alcohol -- as well as a refusal to use their rock-star stage as an evangelical pulpit.

Bono, the Edge and Mullen have always taken pains to separate the words "Christian" and "religion."

"All religion seems to do is divide," the Edge said in a 1983 Rolling Stone story. "I'm really interested and influenced by the spiritual side of Christianity, rather than the legislative side, the rules and regulations."

Growing up in Ireland, the band members saw the darkest sides of religion as Catholics and Protestants engaged in cold and hot wars. Bono saw how the religious differences affected his Catholic father and Protestant mother. Their relationship was disparaged as a mixed marriage in much of Ireland.

It was his mother's death when he was 15 that pointed Bono toward Christianity. Mullen's mother's death also prompted him to look to God.

In U2's early years, Mullen, Bono and the Edge were involved in a charismatic Christian group called Shalom. According to Unforgettable Fire: The Definitive Biography of U2 by Eamon Dunphy, the group met twice a week in the front room of a suburban house for prayer, Bible study and songs.

"Outside, this brand of Christianity was scorned as freakish," Dunphy wrote. "Inside, it seemed like a quest for the values of fairness, decency, justice and humility that Christ had proclaimed in the Bible."

Dunphy said Clayton explored Christianity a bit but never embraced it, which caused some consternation early in the band's career. The Shalom group also created some conflict when it questioned U2's rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

October, the band's 1981 album, reflected their searching in songs such as Fire, which contained images from Revelation, and Gloria, a praise song that declared, "Oh Lord, if I had anything, I'd give it to you."

During the next few years, the band began to re-examine Christianity and rock, realizing that many legendary performers, such as Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye, had gone through spiritual searches.

"I started realizing that rock 'n' roll devoid of spiritual confusion is the rock 'n' roll I don't like," Bono said in a 1987 Rolling Stone magazine piece.

U2's next album, War, put it on the world charts with the hit songs New Year's Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday.

The latter song, about a 1972 incident in which British paratroopers killed 13 civilians who were involved in an illegal protest, incorporated religious imagery of divided people being "one" and "claiming the victory Jesus won."

That, along with 40, a reading of Psalm 40, brought many Christian fans into the fold. U2's albums could even be found in Christian bookstores next to the likes of Petra and Amy Grant.

But, while its music was undeniably spiritual, the band had decided long ago not to be a "Christian band" in the sense of evangelizing from the stage. Bono told Hot Press magazine that the band members' convictions would come through "in our lives, in our music, in our performance."

Not that U2 hasn't preached. Two of the big gigs on its way to the top of the pops were Live Aid, the massive 1985 concert for African famine relief that was held on the same day in London and Philadelphia. Then the band played a major role in Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope tour in 1986.

More recently, Bono was at the forefront of Jubilee 2000, a biblically based effort by Christians around the world to get the richest countries to forgive the debts of the poorest.

Through the years and albums, U2's Christian messages remain powerful and are occasionally more controversial.

Mysterious Ways, a song on the 1991 album Achtung Baby, portrayed the Holy Spirit as woman. Their latest album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, contains another song, Grace, which also puts God in a feminine context.

On the extremely theatrical Zoo TV tour, Bono portrayed a devil-horned character called MacPhisto -- in some ways a reaction to people who think the singer perceives himself as Messianic.

That perception is funny, considering the biggest consistency in U2 is that Bono and company have never said they have all the answers.

They got in trouble with evangelicals for the Joshua Tree hit I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

Some asked, "If you've found God, what else are you looking for?"

When it comes to U2 and God, the answers we'll probably always get are more questions.