U2's Bono has been trying to help the poor in Africa for years. Recently, he has hit on a winning strategy, courting Evangelicals. In doing so, he got President Bush and the G8 to agree to erase the debt to many of the world's poorest nations.
The Guardian Unlimited noted the following:
He has not been afraid to use his Christian faith to appeal to the American religious right, dining with Billy Graham and his son Franklin, and quoting Gospel verses to Jesse Helms, which reduced the 83-year-old Republican to tears.
Bono has spent six years trying to change the mindset of the world's most powerful country in relation to its poorest continent, risking his own reputation and that of his band by associating with some of the most controversial figures in American public life.
The Guardian doesn't go into details in how Bono wooed Evangelicals but BeliefNet does:
Usually when the words “evangelical” and “poverty” appear in the same sentence, the minister at the helm is Jim Wallis, Ron Sider, or Tony Campolo. And when Rick Warren is written and talked about, it’s almost never in the context of any political issue.
But Warren, who is the pastor of Saddleback Church, a megachurch in Lake Forest, California and the author of the blockbuster book “The Purpose-Driven Life,” is diving into the issue of Christian responsibility to combat global poverty.The move took the form of an open letter campaign to President Bush, launched June 3 by Warren together with heavyweights Billy Graham and British evangelical John Stott and sent to over 150,000 evangelicals nationwide.
“I deeply believe that if we as evangelicals remain silent and do not speak up in defense of the poor, we lose our credibility and our right to witness about God's love for the world,” Warren wrote in his appeal for participants in the campaign.
A top evangelical leader, Warren’s support lends powerful weight to the cause of ending global poverty. Barna polls have found that Warren comes in near the top of the list when pastors are asked who they feel is the most influential evangelical leader. He was listed first in the “Time” magazine list of the 25 most influential evangelicals, along with other more traditionally political evangelical leaders such as NAE president Ted Haggard and Southern Baptist Richard Land.
Specifically, Bono is tapping into a concept known as creation care. In it Christians have a stewardship not only of the environment but also of humanity. Time had an issue with the Top 25 most influential Evangelicals. Bono tops the list of those who influence Evangelicals. Howard Dean take note. This is how it is done.
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