Thursday’s RNS report features two stories on the keynote speaker at today’s National Prayer Breakfast-rock star and activist Bono.
Adelle M. Banks reports on Bono and President Bush’s push for a faith-based approach to fighting poverty: President Bush and rock star Bono, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday (Feb. 2), preached messages promoting faith-based activism on behalf of the world’s poor. Bono, a musician with the Irish band U2, has drawn attention in recent years to those afflicted by AIDS and poverty in Africa. He said focus on the world’s poor is biblically based. “God is in the slums and the cardboard boxes where the poor play house,” Bono said. “God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. … It’s not a coincidence that in the Scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times.” Bush reiterated his often-stated belief that this is a nation of prayer and said the response to Hurricane Katrina illustrates how Americans act out their faith by helping the needy, at home and abroad.
Kevin Ecktrom spoke with Bono this morning about his embracing of religion as a partner for change in Africa: Born to a Roman Catholic father and a Protestant mother in the sectarian strife of 1960s Ireland, U2 frontman Bono has more than a few reasons to distrust organized religion. So Bono was as surprised as anyone to find himself the keynote speaker at Thursday’s (Feb. 2) National Prayer Breakfast, extolling churches and faith communities for their efforts in his global crusade to rescue Africa from disease, debt and economic destruction. After years of running from organized religion, Bono says he can now embrace it, warts and all, as a pragmatic partner. And especially in the United States, Bono has realized that any effort at social change must include an appeal to Americans’ faith-based instincts.