U2's Bono keeps popping up in my Twitter feed — often for compassionate conservative things he said a year or more ago. Just yesterday, for example, a tweet from Herman Cain sparked a revival of sorts.
To be sure, Bono's faith isn't new news. As Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently noted, "Bono and company created the template for modern Christian rock." Still, in a world where most celebrities tend toward secular liberalism, you can't fault conservatives for being delighted when someone as famous as Bono boldly declares the divinity and resurrection of Christ.
But if Bono's profession of faith is old hat, then his comments (also last year) about how "commerce — entrepreneurial capitalism — takes more people out of poverty than aid" — only buttress the sense that he has embraced a coherent and holistic conservative worldview.
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These videos continue to be recycled because, like Pope Francis, Bono has the ability to transcend stereotypes and reach a wider audience than most people formally involved in faith or politics ever could. Culture is more important than politics, and having one Bono, I suppose, is worth more than a million political pundits.
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