It’s no secret to regular readers of my articles that I’m an atheist. Some have commented in the past on how unusual it is for someone who believes that there’s no god to be a fan of a band that references God in every other song, the singer of which has even publicly even proclaimed his belief that Jesus was the true son of God. I’ve even written about the topic before, but I was thinking today about how many Christians I personally know who are a credit to the religion (a handful at the most) versus the many people I’ve met who behave like Jesus’ command to “love one another” is the biggest pile of garbage they’ve ever heard. A lot of people assume that as an atheist, I automatically hate anyone who identifies as a Christian, and I confess that I get frustrated with the religious right sometimes, but being an atheist means that what I do believe in is humanity. I believe that we can solve our own problems and that a large part of the way to do so is to simply relax and show a little tolerance and consideration. Some understanding. Like Bono has said before, it’s great and wonderful for people to agree and be of one mind, but it’s even greater to respect the right to be different, to disagree. So with that in mind, today’s reason that I love U2 is that they demonstrate some of the best characteristics of each side of the coin. Clearly, the band believe not in waiting for God to fix things, but in taking action themselves to make everyone’s time on Earth as fair and good as it can be, On the other hand, the Christian members of U2 are a great example of the concept of Christ’s love in action. They remind me that labels like “Christian” or “atheist” really don’t matter. What matters is that each of us do the best we can to be the best person that we can, and that that work is a lot easier when we all work together. That’s an important lesson that I might have missed out on if it weren’t for the biggest (and greatest) band on the planet.