This is the question that the Westboro Baptist Church (a "fundamentalist, anti-gay church" -- whatever that means -- in the Tampa, FL area) feels that Bon Jovi should be answering for their fans.
A protest is also scheduled at the St. Pete Times Forum's Bon Jovi concert on April 17. "These old fools have had access to millions all over the world for nearly 3 decades, but they have not one time told any of them what God requires of them," the church Web site says, referring to Bon Jovi.
Uh, what?
OK, look, here's my personal deal.
I'm Catholic. That means I rely on my Pope/bible/priest to give me GUIDANCE as to what God expects of me. Free will means I can make up my own mind as to what I believe God wants and act accordingly. Or disregard it completely. I don't actually believe that my priest/Pope has a red-phone-hotline to the Big Guy, or that they can even PRETEND to know what God really wants us to do. All they can do is guide. And they guide by words.
There's an old saying that "actions speak louder than words".
Let's take a look at what the principals of Bon Jovi have done in recent years.
The Tico Torres Children's Foundation. This was founded to help kids fight hunger, disease, homelessness, neglect, abuse, and illness. (taken from the website). Tico provided the initial funding for the Foundation, and solicits donations for all sorts of causes, including help for Haiti. The yearly golf tourney raises large amounts of money for the foundation, and Tico lends his name/celebrity to the causes his foundation supports.
Only Make Believe. This organization believes that a child's imagination is a valuable part of the healing process, and creates and performs interactive theatre for children in hospitals and care facilities in the NY/NJ area. David is a big supporter of this cause. Kids again.
Richie made it his personal goal to bring Kelly Mahon (a girl from his hometown of Woodbridge, NJ) home from the hospital after suffering from a brain tumor. He helped the family get funding (through fundraising and personal donations) to renovate their home. That's just one of the things he's done.
And I don't think there's a person on the planet that doesn't know at least one thing that has been accomplished through Jon's Soul Foundation, and Jon's involvement with Habitat for Humanity. Hell, Jon even tips big.
I don't know, WBC, I think you're way off on this one. Bon Jovi does not need to stand up on their stage, embrace the mic and say, "Hey people, here's what God expects of you." I'm not even sure people would listen. I think they show us by their actions.
The full article is
here if you want to read it.
~ Hath
Oh, and for the record, God does not talk directly to me; but, I'm pretty sure, that no matter who your God is, all he/she wants is for people to play nice, help each other out, and for nobody to get hurt.
Edit 9:30pm EST April 8. I made an incorrect assumption that the WBC was from the Tampa area. It never truly occurred to me that people would travel THAT far out of their way to protest a concert. Seems a little crazy to me. Thanks for setting me straight, my devoted.
