“Religion is what happens when the Holy Spirit leaves the room” -Bono

ht: Chad aka The Blogstar

Dang, that’s a great quote! So true.

Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com

Is there anything that Bono says that isn’t a great quote.  I can just see him at home:

BONO
Ali, can you pass the salt, as we are the salt of the earth bringing the flavor and light of Love to the world through our lifesong of hope and redemption?

ALI
(passes the salt)
Sure, dear.

Quote is so truthful!

Cool Dad,
YOU’VE eaten dinner with Bono?! So cool. I KNEW he said stuff like that all the time…

Well when I met Bono, he didn’t say anything genius like that.  Or maybe he did.  I was so giddy like a schoolgirl that I don’t remember. 

He sure got that right… Bono’s so cool! :o)

Not yet, but Cool Mum’s been to his house!  Well, his front gate…

TIA,
Why does it not surprise me that you’ve met Bono? Too cool.

I like it cool people “get” it.

Yeah, that’s one thing I’ll brag about.  It was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Well, when I was sitting around “base camp” one day with Bono, the Dali Lama was all braggin about this being his back yard and stuff, and Bono says to me, “This guy won’t shut up. All day long yak, yak, yak. I thought silence was one of their big deals.”

Definitely NOT cool.

Seaton!!!
That was “I’ve got to read this out loud to Jimmy” hilarious…

Well done, Bono.

My pastor used to quote this all the time.  It’s a good one.

I hate to be a nana and disagree a little… because I love Bono.  His Rolling Stone interview just kicks butt, as well has that chapter in “Conversations with Bono.” But, I sorta disagree with him… semantically. 

Christianity is a religion.  I think legalism is what he is getting at here, rather than religion.  He’s stated many times that he feels a great affinity for his Catholic roots and grows to love Catholicism more and more.  The difference between Christianity and other religions is that Christianity is a Grace-centered religion, rather than being centered around a kind of Karma or cause and effect work.  (Something he said in “Conversations..")

I think he’s frustrated with how Christians have become legalist and judgmental and calls that “religion” when religion simply means “A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law.” Again- replace “religious law” at the end there with Grace and you’ve got Christianity. 

He’s a pretty global guy as well, so he’s also referring to the worldwide bloodshed or horrible neglect that comes from man’s evil intentions in the name of religion.  Like 9-11, or how the American Christians turned their back on the suffering in Africa due to AIDS, viewing it as a punishment from God. 

Also, uniquely in the 20th century, Evangelicals would win converts (or try to win them) by saying “hey, its not a Religion, its a relationship.” While I would agree that it is a relationship, unmerited and a free gift, it is still essentially a set of beliefs about One God, Three Persons and BELIEVING that through faith.  So it is still a belief about God, therefore it is still a Religion, we believe it is the true Religion, and the “very truth of God not the invention of any man” so we say that it is the Religion, a set of beliefs about God, made by God, not by man. 

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world”

So I’m thinking Christianity is both:  Religion and Relationship.