U2 Top Ten Song 5: “Sunday Bloody Sunday”

I am so ignorant about many historical topics, especially the ones close to my lifetime. In recent years, I have become a fan of history and history books. I especially enjoy the Podcast “The Rest is History.” They are currently doing a multipart series on “The Troubles.” I had always been aware of the situation in Ireland in my youth, but just barely. One of the ways it was a part of the cultural sea I was swimming in was U2’s song, “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

As is their custom, the song is structured like a psalm, in this case, a psalm of lament. In the famous live recording, Bono declares, “This is not a rebel song.” They don’t approach the topic from one side of the conflict. They mourn that the war even happened at all. War is bad, but especially so when driven by religion, or when religion is the excuse given to justify it. Even worse, the trouble in Ireland were about issues within Western Christianity. We should be all about unity in diversity, not killing each other over interpretations of the same belief!

The final verse that is often cut from recordings is especially relevant to this idea. Bono laments the fact that we live in a time when facts are questioned and denied. This has only gotten worse in the decades since the song was written. Even self-proclaimed “Christians” in some camps seem to be the most postmodern of postmoderns in this regard. However, the line, “the real battle just begun, to claim the victory Jesus won…” is the core of this lament. Jesus has won the victory. He won it through sacrifice, self-sacrifice. As His followers, we do not need to kill people in the name of our faith. We need to be sacrificial and self-denying.