When asked your religion, you write “devout musician.” Does that mean you pray to Angus Young?
It’s not a frivolous answer. I’m essentially agnostic. I don’t have a problem with God. I have a problem with religion. I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith. I think they’re dangerous. Music is something that gives my life value and spiritual solace.
You’re 60 and agnostic. Do you think about death?
Of course I do. Am I afraid of it? No, I’m intrigued by it. I’m not ready for it yet. But in many ways, acknowledging that sense of mortality enriches the life you have left. My dad and I had the same hands. I hadn’t really noticed that until he was on his deathbed, and I mentioned it. And he said, “You used your hands better than I did.” My dad was a milkman. And I realized that was probably the first compliment he’d ever paid me, and that was kind of devastating. I suppose I included it in this book because I wanted to assess whether in the 25 years since he died I used my hands well.
–The Musician Sting (Gordon Sumner) in the November 21, 2011,Time Magazine, page 64
RE: “I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith. I think they’re dangerous.”
Of course, very little in life is *scientifically certain* — but plenty of things are worth believing in and reasonable. It’s fascinating that he announces he doesn’t have the certainties of religious faith and then proceeds to announce one of *his* certainties, which is that “they’re dangerous.”
I wish people could at least recognize how thoroughly inconsistent they are when they declaim against the “certainties of faith” and then construct their own faith about which they are certain.
Everybody has a faith. Everybody comes to conclusions, which roughly they might call “certainties” or using the old word, “verities.” It’s the constant smug declaiming against “certainties” of “faith” while living the certainties of their faith that is so irritating.
Just goes to show how, as St Augustine says, we’re hardwired to look for God and aren’t content till we’ve found him. We crave some kind of certainty, yet so many agnostics and others don’t recognize the contradiction in declaring their certainty that there is no certainty.
As for his dad’s hands, I don’t think delivering milk is a lesser use of them that making music. It’s honourable and honest work. What more can one say?
“Does that mean you pray to Angus Young?”
I know that the identity of God is beyond human visualization…but the idea of God wearing a little schoolboy’s uniform is, to me, disturbing beyond all expression.
Who is Angus Young?
One of the founders of AC/DC, a heavy metal rock band that has been around for about forty years, and is considered as defining the genre..not sure if that is a feature or a bug. Angus is known for appearing on stage wearing an English schoolboy outfit…which is kind of creepy, since he is into his seventh decade.
I’m not sure if this entered into the mind of the interviewer, but one of the group’s best known songs is “Highway to Hell.”
Thanks, Kevin. I am no fan of heavy metal and have avoided AC/DC on purpose, so I was thoroughly ignorant of the reference.
Sting, however, is a very good singer, and released a recording of “The Angel Gabriel” in the 90’s that is wonderful. I always hoped that that showed he had a sliver of faith, but I guess he just liked the music.
I should say in my defense that heavy metal rock and roll is not my cup of tea either. I am more likely to be found listening to Vaughn Williams or Palestrina. However, I graduated from high school in 1980, when the group was at the height of its success, so I had some environmental exposure.
Time was being flip and I’m glad Sting called them on it (re: Angus Young. I’ll admit to enjoying AC/DC, lol). I’ve always liked Sting’s music and felt there was a real spiritual quality to much of it. His charitable pursuits are admirable, as well.
I really wish that people like Sting would come over to “our side.” The problem is that I understand why they don’t. I may be a church member but I’m as tired of the arguments, stone-throwing, and arrogant claims as the average person. If mainstream Christianity as a whole operated more like the Salvation Army (the military accoutrements notwithstanding), then I think we’d have a firmer standing in society. The Salvationists are quite solid in what they believe and what they do in this world because they believe. The vast majority (in the U.S.) respect them for that and support their work.
Ah, I should add and clarify that being respected by society isn’t a goal or lofty pursuit, IMO, but I do think that we should consider the charges against us.
Smugness is an equal opportunity destroyer, though. Some of the atheists/agnostics are out-smugging us by a mile these days, lol. Quite a feat, too, considering that they don’t believe in anything except human knowledge and endeavor and we’re bombarded by the stupidity and shortcomings of human beings every day on TV!
Do you mean like schools, hospitals, food banks, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, overseas aid work, adoption agencies, support for pregnant women, work with poorest etc. etc. That sort stuff?
As Paul Harvey used to say of the SA:
Everybody wants to go where they’re going; nobody wants to be where they’ve been.