Journalist tackles 'worst-covered' subject
It was the kind of story that cried out to be told. Or so Terry Mattingly thought.
It was 1982, and a little-known punk band from Ireland was touring U.S. colleges for the first time, rattling from town to town in an old panel truck.
Mattingly, then a music writer for a small Illinois paper, was intrigued by the chorus from a song on their new album. The lyrics were, of all things, in Latin -- gloria in te domine, gloria exultate - and appeared to have been taken from an ancient Mass.
In two days he spent with the band, Mattingly, a journalist who now lives in Glen Burnie, persuaded the lead singer to speak about his faith. It was the first time Paul David Hewson, better known today as Bono, went on the record about religion and the rise of U2.
The experience was telling, and not just because Mattingly learned Bono wrote "Gloria" in a "charismatic Pentecostalist frenzy," or that the band met frequently to discuss the Bible - the sort of nuggets that have made Mattingly, a columnist and blogger, one of America's most widely read religion writers.
No, when he pitched the article to Rolling Stone, the editors decided he must be making it up and took a pass. The piece ran only in the Champaign, Ill., News-Gazette and, later, in a Christian music magazine.
Religion, Mattingly says, "is the worst-covered major subject in American journalism," and he has built a uniquely robust career addressing that belief.
Read the rest of the story by Jonathan Pitts at baltimoresun.com.
Comments
Dude, great story...
Posted by: Jason Poling | July 20, 2009 4:43 PM
Latin masses resemble Sanskrit chants--they put the racing human head into lower gear, numb the turmoils of human existence and make the intellect surrender to the magic of the incantation.
I am not surprised Bono and his group included an ancient Latin chant as chorus in one of their songs. That was a good trick. It woke Mattingly up for sure and made him curious.
As for the Pentecostal frenzy that seized Bono leading to "Gloria" the song-- in the West, creative people, particularly musicians go through all kinds of apoplexies during their careers. Anything that feeds their craving for novelty and creates publicity or revenue, I notice, they will take.
They will go up high to Tibet and hear the monks there blow through conch shells; then they will come down to the valleys and incorporate the same sound into a metallic rock piece, making it all the rage; the sound of the conch shell from Tibet, no more then a daily ritual call to the Buddha; suddenly a sexy sound in the clubs of the West enhanced by pyrotechnics, hashish, swirling neon lights and half naked swaying dancers--thanks to the spiritual journey of some singer like Bono--no credit given to the monks of course--entrance fee for this experience? Incalculable amounts paid to scalpers.
Come on! Many singers, actors and movie producers want to show off their underdeveloped spiritual sides. After the attainment of wealth and the dissipation comes the disillusionment followed by the half hearted search for enlightenment which if it does not lead to the Kabbalah or Deepak Chopra , will invariably lead to the Bible.
Not enough is written about religion? The world is drowning in the subject. Religion is the subterfuge of many a rascal and sometimes the crowing song of attention seeking bohemians.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2009 2:16 AM