I don t necessarily like to use the word religious because it can put people off. How do you define yourself religiously now or do you? Here s the thing: I love religion.
I was born into a very religious society, so it s part of my DNA, you know? I admire a lot of different religions. But I think religion has weaknesses the chief one being that it doesn t understand that it is not God a lot of the time.
God and religion are two different things, and the blurring of the two that comes from those in power stems from the fact that they don t seem to know themselves that boundary that there was a God before religion. There is a God despite religion, if you like. In a lot of religions, rules and regulations have become kind of like walls.
God gets held behind them, and the religious people say when It can come out to love someone, and when It s got to go back in and not love someone which doesn t make any sense, if you understand that God loves everybody unconditionally. So consequently a lot of people are rejecting the idea of God at all, or rejecting the idea of any kind of spirituality. They re throwing the baby out with the bathwater, if you like.
God is underemployed, when there are a lot of problems in the world that could get fixed very quickly if people actually believed in God. But can belief in God alone change anything? See, I wouldn t even talk about belief in God being the thing that changes things.
Asking is the thing. I do believe a whole lot could be changed if we were to ask God to help. But because of religion, people often don t think there is a God therefore they don t ask.
But some would say that those who are creating war, often in the name of God, also ask God for help. Well, yeah, but you know, to me, those people are (bleeping) completely blaspheming. I reckon and I know this is harsh but I really think it s a crime, and it should be an actual listed crime, for anybody to make war or violence and claim God supports it.
A Christian is someone who is supposed to ask themselves at any given time: What would Christ do? Christ wouldn t be bombing people. Look even at the theology of the Crucifixion, for example.
These warmongers say they re Christians. Well, look at Jesus: He knew that the Romans were coming to kill him. But he didn t set out to kill them.
He could have gotten all his mates to go around and chop their heads off. But he didn t. These people claim to represent a particular theology they don t even understand.
And it s treason of the highest level, because it s bringing God into disrepute. Well, I m just a bug, you know. I m in no position to know, and I can t do anything really to save the universe or change things greatly.
But what I can do is make my own expression of how I feel about it, put forth my response to things, which we all need to do. I think people need to understand how to protest, you know what I mean? We are all complicit in what s happening with this war because we re not protesting against it.
Partly because people are afraid will people get the (crap) kicked out of them if they do protest? Partly it s because of the contradiction that can enter into it if you re going to protest against war, there s no point in doing it angrily. So I think people are frightened frightened of Bush, frightened of Blair, because they are running their countries almost like police states.
When those two guys shift off the face of the Earth, I think people are going to be more likely to feel safe in expressing themselves. But again, we re all complicit in it. None of us have a right to complain about it if we re not doing something about it.
And I include myself in this. I m sure I should be sitting out in the streets as much as anyone else should be. Last time we spoke, a decade ago, you mentioned you felt people had begun to see you not through media portrayals but strictly through your music.
That owed a lot to you withdrawing from the spotlight. The lack of attention now does that hamper your ability to have your message heard? No, I think possibly it can help me reach people even more, because I was the type of person I was while in that (rock) arena.
I think I might be taken more seriously, because I m not a Paris Hilton type. I wouldn t want to get involved in the bitchery that s going on at the moment. I just thought it was disgusting, everybody laughing at her going to jail.
But because I m perceived and for once it s an accurate perception as someone who rejected the pop stardom thing ...
and I don t think there s anything wrong with that, the pop world. It s probably much more valid to people than what people like me do. At the same time, say if Christina Aguilera made a religious record people might not take it quite as seriously as something from someone who has actually stood for something other than fame and fortune over the years.
That s also why I stuck to the Old Testament for this album. In terms of religious music, there s a terribly spider-web-thin line between corny and cool, and you ve got to try to stay on the right side of the line. You have to be clever about it.
Well, one way is avoid the New Testament altogether, because unfortunately the J-word is off-putting to people. I do have a massive love of that energy but I m not stupid. If you don t want to send people running, you have to be aware of those prejudices.
But do you really think God can be saved from religion? I do, actually. I think it s something that s beginning to happen slowly but surely.
It may not be obvious to people that that s what s happening. But the real question is, after God s been saved from religion, can religion be saved from religion? Sometimes it takes catastrophe to trigger such changes.
Well, I have a feeling that when Bush and Blair get out of office, there will be massive changes. I think at the moment people feel really powerless, but in some ways there is a growing group who remember that the darkest hour is before the dawn. What we see going on in the world, people aren t going to stand for it, by the time this war is finished.
People aren t going to put up with it unjust war, unprovoked war. People are not going to elect people who are going to make war. I don t necessarily like to use the word religious because it can put people off.
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