A U2 fan attended one of their recent concerts in Madison Square Garden, New York, and came away a little taken aback:

About five songs into their set, Bono stopped the show and strapped on a headband with writing on it. I stared up at the JumboTron to see that the handwritten lettering said: COEXIST.

Coexisting sounds like a great idea. I fully support the peaceful philanthropy that Bono has encouraged, and this seemed like another way that he was trying to spread the message.

Except, it started to feel like more than a political message. The “C” in “coexist” was the Islamic crescent moon, the “X” was the Star of David, and the “T” was the cross of Christ. Bono pointed at the symbols on his headband – first to the cross, then to the star, then to the crescent moon – and he began to repeat:

“Jesus, Jew, Mohammed – all true. Jesus, Jew, Mohammed – all true.”

He repeated the words like a mantra, and some people even began to repeat it with him. I suddenly wanted to crawl out of my skin.

Later:

After the show, I ran into a friend who had been sitting in the back row of farthest. “What did you think of that headband thing?” I asked. “Well, I couldn’t hear what he was saying because it was bouncing off the wall behind me, and I couldn’t read the headband, because I wasn’t near a JumboTron. But honestly, I felt like I was witnessing an antichrist.” I stood frozen as she spoke. I’d had the same feeling.

Let me be clear: I’m not saying that Bono is the Antichrist. Perhaps he’s just guilty of being overzealous about his politics. But I hope that if he is a believer, the Holy Spirit will convince him that equating Christianity with other religions is false prophecy.

Well. Putting aside the problematic theology that the Reverend Bono is promulgating (assuming that this whole account is true*), doesn’t it seem like he is pushing that “COEXIST” message to an audience for whom it is rather redundant? I mean, New Yorkers? Does Bono have the impression that people are being slaughtered for their faith out on 7th Avenue every day? And he’s just the guy to teach them how to be tolerant?

Now, say U2 put on a free concert in Saudi Arabia (what a great idea!). Maybe near that place with the pillars where they stone the devil. Bono can wear the “COEXIST” headband there, and preach, “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed – all true.” I think it might be very eye-opening for the audience. And maybe for the Reverend Bono too.

…

*Addendum: Thanks to John Murphy for emailing me a correction to this post. That is: Bono’s in-concert coexist rant appears to be slightly although significantly different to what is quoted above. As on this YouTube clip, he says: “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed it’s true … all sons of Abraham.” And then he calls on Abraham to call on his sons to stop fighting, essentially.

Well, you can argue that Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all Abrahamic faiths; in fact they are officially considered such by those experts who make these kinds of designations. So Bono’s statement, as such, is not egregiously or even technically incorrect. The question remains, however, as to the value of him stating it to huge and almost entirely Christian audiences, versus taking it on the road to Mecca and Medina …

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