The noise in my head was deafening, and drinking was in my thoughts all the time. It shocked me to realize that here I was in a treatment center, a supposedly safe environment, and I was in serious danger. I was absolutely terrified, in complete despair. At that moment, almost of their own accord, my legs gave way and I fell to my knees. In the privacy of my room, I begged for help. I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether, I had nothing left to fight with. Then I remembered what I had heard about surrender, something I thought I could never do, my pride just wouldn’t allow it, but I knew that on my own I wasn’t going to make it, so I asked for help, and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered. Within a few days I realized that something had happened for me. An atheist would probably say it was just a change of attitude, and to a certain extent that’s true, but there was much more to it than that. I had found a place to turn to, a place I’d always known was there but never really wanted, or needed, to believe in. From that day until this, I have never failed to pray in the morning, on my knees, asking for help, and at night, to express gratitude for my life and, most of all, for my sobriety. I choose to kneel because I feel I need to humble myself when I pray, and with my ego, this is the most I can do. If you are asking why I do all this, I will tell you…because it works, as simple as that. In all this time that I’ve been sober, I have never once seriously thought of taking a drink or a drug. I have no problem with religion, and I grew up with a strong curiosity about spiritual matters, but my searching took me away from church and community worship to the internal journey. Before my recovery began, I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.
--Eric Clapton on his 20 year sobriety in Clapton: The Autobiography
New York: Do you align yourself with any party? Terrence Howard: No, I firmly believe in what the Bible set out: that God’s kingdom is the real kingdom. And that king is superior to all other kings on the Earth. A lot of things that flawed mankind is trying to accomplish on the Earth—I think a lot of it is in vain, because we just don’t have the capacity to rule ourselves successfully. Six thousand years of mankind’s rulership has pretty much proved that.
"I'm a product of the pimp, the pusher, and the reverend/ I'm a product of the block, the fiends, and the felons/ We all lost souls tryina find our way to heaven"
--Tupac Shakur in "The Uppercut"
"The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man."
--Albert Einstein
Rolling Stone: You are lamenting the loss of God in our lives, but I don't see in your writings any professions of belief. Are you a religious person?
Tom Wolfe: No, I'm not a believer. I was raised as a Presbyterian, and when I was about thirteen or fourteen, I just kind of wandered off. It wasn't -- I had never had this moment when I said there is no God.
Rolling Stone: But as a nonbeliever, you still seem to be defending belief.
Tom Wolfe: Anyone who thinks that religion is bad for society is out of his mind. We are now beginning to see what happens when you don’t have it. People get depressed when they don’t have something to believe. I think the contemporary conception of the human mind has become more and more depressing. This is my problem with the atheists, people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. They’re saying that there is no ghost in the machine, that it’s all physical. And if it’s all physical, it’s going to obey certain laws. And the endpoint of the argument is that there is no free will, that you and I are machines that have had a certain genetic foundation, and as soon as we know enough about that, we’ll be able to predict what’ll happen when you meet me. We just need the information. That’s a very depressing thought.
"There are two kinds of fear: The Bible talks a lot about fear of God--fear in the face of something awesome. That kind of fear is the type of fear that makes someone want to change. But a fear of other people makes you want to stay the same, to protect what you have. It's a stagnant fear; and it's paralyzing."
--Win Bulter of Arcade Fire explaining to Paste some of the thoughts on their album Neon Bible
“To those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them.”
--Bono at the 2007 NAACP Image Awards
“I was raised by Catholic parents, with a profound awareness and reverence for God. And ingrained in me is the idea of service with a glad heart with the talent you were given. We all have the ability to serve God and each other with our talents. I choose roles with that objective. I really think that’s why I act. I’ve never sought out parts where you float around in beautiful dresses and have no character.”
-- Vera Farmiga, co-star of
The Departed, in
The New York Times
When Switchfoot singer/guitarist Jon Foreman cries, "I don't know that I ever felt so alive" on the band's sixth album, he's probably describing a new peak in his relationship with Jesus, since that's usually what Christian bands like Switchfoot sing about. But Foreman could also be referring to the San Diego outfit's sound: Oh! Gravity is their liveliest record, full of dive-bombing guitar fuzz, juicy arena-alt choruses, and the art-rock ear candy Chris Cornell favored in Soundgarden. Your turn, Satan.
--Mikael Wood in Spin
“I believe in the culture war. And you know what? If I have to take a side in the culture war I’ll take [the conservative Christian] side. Because if you give me the choice of
Paris Hilton or Jesus, I’ll take Jesus.”
--Alexandra Pelosi in the
NY Times (yes, her mom is the Speaker of the House)
"I’ve always felt closest to God when I’m on a stage. I guess it’s really useful to be damaged in this business, because it makes it possible for you to express things — and get paid for it.”
--Patricia Heaton in
The New York Times
So as to clear up any misconceptions, Thunderstruck does not necessarily endorse all of the ideas or quotes that are presented on this website. This is not intented to be a cop-out, only a point of clarification. Thunderstruck exists to explore the collision between pop culture and the realms of faith, religion, and spirituality. Sometimes that is tidy, and orthodox. More often than not, however, it is not.
"I think about God a lot more than ever, though I used to ask him, 'Help me make a good jump.' I'm awfully tough to get along with, but I'll tell you what: I am a good person. I wish there was such a thing as reincarnation."
"If there is a heaven, I don't know anything else I can do to get there — and neither do you. There are some personal things that I would never do again.…God made us. He's in charge of everything, right? If he didn't like us, why didn't he change us?
"Hey, I faced every challenge that came along. I just did everything. I have no regrets."
--Evel Knievel in
USA Today
"It's a sacred form and yet it's also incredibly annoying and profane because it's the soundtrack in shopping malls across the country. I'm interested in reconciling this phenomenal event -- the incarnation of God -- with Santa Claus and blue-light specials at Kmart and the weird preoccupation we have with buying a lot of junk and giving it to each other."
-- Sufjan Stevens in
Rolling Stone on his new album,
Hark! Songs for Christmas
"I feel that, spiritually, I did the right thing in making [
The Pursuit of Happyness]. The tool that God has given me is my artistry. I feel I'm closer than I've ever been to do something with that tool that will leave the world a better place."
-- Will Smith in
The United Methodist Reporter
"Look, on the God thing, I have to be really careful because I’m not a very good advertisement, and so I don’t want to sit there and -- you say I’m a man of faith. I’m sort of, yes -- there I am -- I just can’t. You know, I just recently read, in one of St Paul’s letters, where it describes all the fruits of the spirit, and there was none of them -- I had none of them."
--Bono in his
Enough Rope interview
"There are some young artists out there that don't have anything good to say. And I didn't want to do that. I wanted to have a message. And it helped that I was raised going to church. What my music is supposed to do is give people who didn't have the chance to attend services get a taste of the spirit."
--Robert Randolph
"Because I'm a Christian doesn't mean that I don't believe in dinosaurs and I hate all homosexuals. I
do believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose three days later. But I don't believe what your parents
tell you I believe."
--Aaron Gillespie of Underoath in
AP
"I'm a true believer in God and Satan. I may be one of the only people in the world that believes that Bible stories are literal. I literally believe that there is a character named the Devil who is definitely out for you and me. He's out there to get you and me to look away from Christ."
--Alice Cooper in the
Toronto Sun
"I love my Church, and I'm a Catholic who was raised by intellectuals, who were very devout. I was raised to believe that you could question the Church and still be a Catholic. What is worthy of satire is the misuse of religion for destructive or political gains. That's totally different from the Word, the blood, the body and the Christ. His kingdom is not of this earth."
--Stephen Colbert in
TimeOut New York
"We don't call ourselves a Christian band. Because when you get into marketing, 'Christian' means that you have everything together, and you're always happy, and you want everybody to start going to your church. The common denominators in the music I've liked is the honesty of not having
answers and the passion to find them. I think that's what spiritual music has,
whether it's Christian or pop or new age. If we have an agenda, it's to make art
that is honest and represents what we believe in."
--Isaac Slade of The Fray in
USA Today
"That's one of our goals, to bring hope to the front of suffering, despair and all that stuff that heavy rock songs are usually about...I used to be an obnoxious atheist...When I was about 16, I planned on killing myself that day that everything changed for me. And there was a miraculous sequence of events that happened to me, and then I knew that there was a God. I didn't really know if it was Christianity or not, so I studied it for myself to find out what Christianity is all about. The pieces totally fit together with the miraculous experience I had. And then I understood that my faith tells me that I'm created for a reason and that there's a reason for me wakin' up every day, and it's not about myself. It's just about the fact that I have some sort of purpose, and hopefully my story will help other people."
--Lacey Mosley of Flyleaf
"Of all the books I've read, the Bible is certainly the one that's influenced me the most. It's all over what I do."
--Songwriter Nick Cave of the Bad Seeds in
Entertainment Weekly
Kelsey Grammer, who plays Beast in the last X-Men movie, told
Maxim, "The seven deadlies [Deadly Sins] are pretty deadly, especially pride." When he was asked if that was the sin he struggles with most, Grammer replied: "It has certainly been one of mine, but I’ve tested all of them. See, it’s not that the Bible says you
can’t do it; it’s that you
shouldn’t. The wages of sin is death. And they’re not talking about physical death—they’re talking about spiritual death. And when you overindulge in those things, your spirit ends up destroyed."
Okay, Thunderstruckers, you really need to check out
Risen. Click on the cover to go to the website. Plus, check out the very cool things Pauley Perrette said about the mag on her blog by clicking
here: "I love this magazine. It is no fluff in content, (yes there are ads, because, it's a magazine). I sat down for hours and read all three magazines from cover to cover and I fell in love. It is absolutely my favorite magazine ever. They interview all kinds of people, but instead of silly Hollywood stuff, it's about the real stuff, mind, heart and soul." (
www.PauleyP.com)
"I believe being a worship leader is the highest of all art forms, to worship and call people into the presence of God."
-- Bono, discussing Christian and secular music with a group of reporters after the National Prayer Breakfast
NPR’s Terry Gross: The new album is Get Behind Me Satan, and there have been a couple of biblical references in your songs over the years—were you brought up with religion?
Jack White of the White Stripes: Oh yes, heavy duty—but not to the point of you know, speaking in tongues or anything. But it was in the air for sure. I appreciate it as well. I like looking at life through that at times. I wouldn’t consider myself sort of…I mean, I just like being in touch with God, I think. I think that’s sort of important. I think when you’re a creative person in any kind of art form, once you finally admit to yourself that you can’t create like God creates, it humbles you. And then you can be free to explore the beauty of that creativity. When you look at it with God in the picture as well it just sort of frees you up, I think.
"I've tried everything in my life. I was baptized Lutheran and brought up as a Jehovah's Witness. My mom was Jewish. I experimented with black magic and witchcraft and read the satanic bible. But I became a Christian about three years ago and that's a positive thing."
--Dave Mustaine from Megadeth in an interview with CanWest News
"I went through a weird patch, starting when I was about sixteen to twenty-two, of getting God and religion and superstition and judgment all confused. I think a lot of our music comes out of that. I definately believe in God. How can you look at anything and not be overwhelmed by the miraculousness of it?"
--Coldplay's Chris Martin
"Coolness might help in your negotiation with people through the world, maybe, but it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw. That’s the connection with great music and art, and that is why it’s uncomfortable, that is why cool is the enemy of it, because that's the other reason you wanted to join a band: you wanted to do the cool thing. Trying to capture religious experiences on tape wasn’t what you had in mind when you signed up for the job."
--Bono in Bono in conversation with Michka Assayas
"Theology is a lot more interesting. I mean, I love music, and I love making music, and I love making records, and I've devoted my life to being a musician. But music, in and of itself, is not the most interesting thing to talk about."
--Moby in
Relevant
Rolling Stone: What's the last song you'd like to hear before you die?
Bob Dylan: How 'bout "Rock of Ages"?
"I'm not all that much of a praying person, and I'm definately not a religious person, but I do consider myself a spiritual person and a Christian. I guess I might be a C-minus Christian, but I am one."
--Johnny Cash, liner notes of
Cash Unearthed
BONO TO THUNDERSTRUCK
"Well, you know, I am not a very good advertisement for God. So, I generally don't wear that badge on my lapel. But it is certainly written on the inside. I am a believer. There are 2,103 verses of Scripture pertaining to the poor. Jesus Christ only speaks of judgement once. It is not all about the things that the church bangs on about. It is not about sexual immorality, and it is not about megalomania, or vanity. It is about the poor. 'I was naked you clothed me. I was a stranger and you let me in.' This is at the heart of the gospel. Why is it that we have seemed to have forgotten this? Why isn't the church leading this movement? I am here tonight because the church ought to be ready to do that.
--Bono in response to Thunderstruck's question about how faith
motivates his activism
"Think of Steve Beard as the missing link. Without him, you might not find anything to connect "Roy's rock" to rock 'n' roll, bikinis to the breastplate
of St. Patrick."
--The Mobile Register
"Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's rebellion."
--Alice Cooper The London Sunday Times
"If you like free-for-all Christian commentary on pop culture-without a particular doctrinal viewpoint-check out www.thunderstruck.org ... this addictive blog catalogs interesting features from all over the Web. It's packed with treasures from an amazing variety of sources. You'll read about The Matrix Reloaded, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Johnny Cash and Christian yoga; you'll hear from Dennis Miller and William F. Buckley.…If the Web site has a bias, it is poking in the pieties of both mainstream culture and conventional Christianity."
--Dallas Morning News
"I'm not the King. Christ is the King. I'm just a singer."
--Elvis in Las Vegas
"Best Christian blog? The astounding Thunderstruck, where Steve Beard lists and links thousands of key articles from a host of sources, all calculated to make Christians think more carefully about their faith and the culture they live in. I have to watch how often I go there; I start clicking on his links, and whoops, it’s suppertime."
--John Allan, Christianity & Renewal magazine
• Not sure if you caught J.K. Rowling on Dateline the other night but there was this fascinating exchange:
