sallycinnamon78

Firstly, apologies if this has been posted earlier: I did search the forum, but couldn't find any mention of it. I found this story online about 5 mins ago. I won't post the whole thing, just the jist of it and the link:

I'm assuming this refers to B's 2nd Feb speech in which he said: " I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was… well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays… and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God. For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land… and in this country, seeing God’s second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash… in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment… "

I thought I ought to post it for anyone who is interested, although it's not exactly major news.

BonoVoxSupastar

I guess Bono still has the ability to piss off those not on this board.

Here I thought Bono became the all appeasing non-partisan one...

__________________
my music

Why is it that the one's with the most closed minds have the most opened mouths?

Harry Vest

Bono's right.
That's not to say "religion" hasn't done ANY good in Ireland - I'm sure "it" has.

Bono's shades

It seems that Bono is criticizing how religion gets misused and twisted in other parts of the world, too, not just Ireland.

Heck, from the stuff I've heard and read about religion in Ireland, Bono could have been a LOT harsher in his remarks.

Ellay

There's a big difference between religion and faith.

Irishteen

Ye you're right

If anything made Ireland, it was faith a lot more than religion.

An Cat Gav

I agree with all your comments, but I think that him and Madonna could spend their time attacking institutions other than the Catholic Church, they're a soft target and have been bashed, albeit rightly, over the last twenty years, but its beginning to sound a little tired.
Bono is being a tad dramatic when he talks about "battle lines", he grew up in a middle class part of Dublin, not battle scarred west belfast.

FEELINNUMB

I am Catholic, and the Church is not a soft target, it has every intelligent criticism coming to it, because it continually and historically contravenes almost every tenet of the faith it is supposed to represent. And if it is getting tiresome, that's because nothing is changing. No one is beating a dead horse. We need more people like those on this board who see the difference between Church and Faith. There's not supposed to be one, but there is. And it is the Church that damaged Ireland, even worse than the British, because the British were identified as the enemy/aggressor. The Faith is what saved Ireland.

And please, do not class Bono with Madonna in any context. Bono is a man of intelligence, integrity and faith. Madonna is a narcissistic idiot whose life is dedicated to getting attention at any price.

Niamh_Saoirse

Priest rejects Bono's criticism of Church's influence



A priest today challenged Bono’s view of the role religion has played in Ireland.

Jesuit historian Fr Fergus O’Donoghue said the lead singer of U2 must realise religion has made the country.

Fr Odonoghue challenged remarks Bono made at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast at the Whitehouse in Washington DC earlier this year when he referred to the damage religion has done to Ireland.

“Bono is wrong. Religion has made Ireland,” Fr O’Donoghue said in an editorial in The Irish Jesuit Quarterly Studies.

“The remark sounds profound but it is facile if not meaningless, because religion has made Ireland.

"Irish civilisation is profoundly Christian, which means that Christian belief has been formative in every aspect of Irish political, economic and social development.”

Fr O’Donoghue said he admires the work the U2 singer does in combating Aids and highlighting the plight of poorer regions.

“But I said to myself: 'That is completely wrong. You can’t visualise Ireland without religion,'” he said, adding: “Most Irish people for 1,500 years have been committed Christians.”

The historian highlighted the role Christianity played in bringing learning to Ireland. He said talking about damage was biased and unfair.

Another article on African Pentecostals in 21st-century Ireland estimates around 30,000 members are taking part in Irish churches.

In The Irish Jesuit Quarterly Studies, Abel Ugba said many of them feel pity for what they see as the loose behaviour and religious illiteracy of young Irish people.

He said: “Indeed, some African Pentecostals are convinced that, far from resting content on the margins of Irish society, they actually have a ‘mission’ to bring modern-day Ireland back to its traditional sense of Christian belief and spirituality.”

Niamh_Saoirse

Hmm, actually this should go in the "Goal is Soul" subforum. Mods, please move if you think it's necessary. And sorry about posting in the wrong place.

MrsSpringsteen

Yes I'm quite sure that Father O'Donoghue doesn't see what Bono means by "religion". If he read more that Bono has said or spoke to him personally I'm sure he would understand him better.

Galeongirl

maybe religion has made Ireland, but that priest should take a look at the facts, at how it divided and also destroyed the county!

bridgit

There is a big difference between organized religion and faith. My grandparents were very faithful Christians but religion was the reason they left Ireland.

babyman

Religion is people's opium

last unicorn

I think Bono is totally right about the church and he has every right to criticise it. He was raised in this country and has spent most of his life there, so he knows pretty well what has been going on and has seen what "religion" can do to people. Religion has nothing to do with being faithful. I am proud of people like Bono who have a very deep belief in God and still dare to challenge churches and religions.