I have to agree with Pagan and the mood of the time. Versions of the same " music or song " vary and change as time passes .
Original meaning is often lost with interpretation.

"The Road to Gila Bend"
just because...

Maybe more religions, if they want to be relevant in America, should be concerned with being relevant to *Springsteen* than with trying to make it the other way around. :)

As for recent albums not selling well, don't mean they aren't actually pretty awesome. 'Magic' deserves a lot of good listening. And in a way it was *about* how the American mood had been at the time.

'Radio Nowhere?' 'Living In The Future?'

Maybe they didn't get a lot of airplay, but no wonder. It wasn't exactly what the few remaining media companies were trying to sell.

Clearthinking:

A "culture of tolerance"?

Tell that to the dead at Gujurat. I have little use for Patel. He's askeered of Hindus and, therefore, picks easy targets. He's intellectually conservative and, to date, gives no evidence of the spectacular education he was privileged to receive. His knowledge of history is nil, and when I say history, I mean the indisputable facts of the past.

Here is an item for those who keep thinking that if a Muslim woman wears a scarf, she is "oppressed" and the women in the West are "free".

PrintBack to story .
Divorce in America: Ind., Fla. counties are tops
By TAMARA LUSH and DEANNA MARTIN, Associated Press Writers Tamara Lush And Deanna Martin, Associated Press Writers
Thu Sep 24, 9:45 am ET

ISLAMORADA, Fla. – It's easy to see why bookkeeper Linda Mortimer moved to the Florida Keys 20 years ago: the impossibly blue water, the year-round sunshine, a lifestyle so laid-back that every day is like a Jimmy Buffett lyric.

What Mortimer didn't anticipate was falling in love — and then getting divorced less than two years after taking her wedding vows.

"I discovered after we got married that my husband had been divorced four times," said Mortimer, as she finished a noontime burger while sitting at the bar at the Ocean View, a local party spot and Mortimer's place of employment.

"I was his No. 5. He didn't understand why I got so upset."

Divorce is as common in the Florida Keys as fresh grouper and cold beer. Census statistics released this week show that Monroe County — which includes the cluster of 1,700 islands floating off South Florida — has the second-highest proportion of divorced residents. A little more than 18 percent of the people living in Monroe County are divorced, second only to Indiana's Wayne County, which had 19 percent. Nationwide, 10.7 percent of people over 15 are divorced"........."

Read full story in today's Yahoo News.

Women in the West live in constant fear that once they get wrinkles, their husbands will leave them for younger women.
Yes, they are "free" to wear halters and "see thru' shorts. But are they really "free" from exploitation by men?

What does it do to the mental health of children? They never think about it. These things are "in the nature of things."

A rock concert is a religious revival.

I love Springsteen's use of religious metaphor in his songs.

I've seen him twice in my life and worked a summer on the Jersy shore in the '80's.

I'm glad it's the end of Ramadan. My Muslim friends will be able to go to lunch with me.

I generally don't agree with Mr. Patel on much (due to his conservatism, not his religion), but I understand exactly what he's expressing here.

Having attended two Springsteen concerts in the late '70s, I can attest to the throbbing emotional sweep of his performances even back then. And his lyrics have always had a deeply spiritual flavor, delving as they do into themes of ruin and redemption.

That Mr. Patel and I can have experienced similar feelings and responses to the same music -- especially across a 30-year divide -- demonstrates that, despite ideological disagreement, sensitive people at opposite ends of a continuum can still find common ground.

I glad I discovered this perspective in Mr. Patel. If nothing else, it will encourage me to read his pieces with a more open mind.

(However, I will believe to my dying day that "Darkness on the Edge of Town" was Springsteen's best album.)

Mr. EBOO PATEL:

Besides seeing Mr. Springsteen, hath YeYo seen'th Star's lately?

M O N T E D O R O:

You've justly revealed "THE-MiND" Of SATAN, their JiNN.

Thank You!

xxioxro5 writes: "Eboo Patel has trivialised the teachings of one of mankinds greatest religion."
Here is a sampling of that "one of mankinds greatest religion."
FROM THE KORAN:
-- Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve. (8.55)
--The unbelievers are your inveterate enemy. (4:101)
-- Mohammed is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another. (48:29).
-- We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. (3:151)
-- I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers. (8:12)
FROM THE SAYINGS OF MUHAMMAD:
-- Muhammad said to the Jews: "If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. “
-- Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "
-- Mohammed said, "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and whoever says, " None has the right to be worshipped but Allah , his life and property will be saved by me." (otherwise it will not). Vol. 4:196
-- Mohammed said, "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him." Vol. 9:57
-- Mohammed said, " No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir" (infidel). Vol. 9:50
-- Muhammad said: "Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, …"

Isn't that just great?!

Maybe Eboo can get Bruce to play a set this Friday, 9/25/09, at 1 p.m. to the 50,000 Muslims expected at the "Islam on Capitol Hill" get-together. Just go to www.IslamOnCapitolHill.com for all the details.

I agree with Clearthinking.Trying to elevate the flimsiest of connection between Bruce Springstein and Islam to a higher level is demeaning to Islam and distort the music of Bruce Springstein.Eboo Patel has trivialised the teachings of one of mankinds greatest religion.He should not write on a subject he knows very little.

I for one will dispense with point/counter point discussion and agree with Boo on ministry.

True ministry is reflective in the following.
I personally preferred the sermon "Live from New York" Land of Hope and Dreams.
Minister Springsteen is at the top.

Of course, i surrendered to my minister after I heard her in a small accoustical set, played in a local radio station.
Sarah Mclachlan, "Possesion".
I confessed after "Fallen" AfterGlow Live.

Eboo writes:
"Seeing Bruce Springsteen ... it is a spiritual experience that I find deeply resonant with the message of Islam"

Reading this stuff would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

This same old defense o' Islam and education about the "real" Islam is vacuous at best.

Write something worth reading, something with some intellectual content.
Or give up this space to someone who will encourage intelligent and interesting dialogue about the problems associated with religion and how to solve them.

"Moderate" muslims like Eboo and Fareed Zakaria come from India where they learned from a culture of tolerance of Hindus, not from Islamic culture. Zakaria's mother could work as a journalist and voice her opinion in India, but not in Saudi Arabia - the home of Eboo's obsessive compulsive disorder.

John Meacham, Sally Quinn, and Lisa Miller need to pay attention to this potentially interesting blog. Otherwise it will go the way of PostGlobal. Hasn't the volume of hits gone down with the recent changes and less accessibility of On Faith? How about someone who writes about science, Buddhism, Hinduism, real interfaith issues.