Dear Tom,

It was with sincere pleasure that I heard about your upcoming release of an all new album entitled "Hypnotic Eye".  I have always enjoyed your music.  I was especially interested in reading your interview in Billboard regarding this release.  The article seemed to focus almost entirely on your song "Playing Dumb", which is your response to the child molestation issue within the Catholic church.  Thank you for keeping this all important issue in the public eye.  I especially respect your statement, " If I was in a club, and I found out that there had been generations of people abusing children, and then that club was covering that up, I would quit the club."

However, Tom, I want to caution you about painting with too wide of a brush.  While I left the Catholic Church years ago over theological issues, we both need to admit there are many sincere, admirable Catholic people.  From Francis of Assisi to Father Flanagan to Mother Teresa, there have always been those who truly serve the true Jesus within Catholicism. And for every household name, there's hundreds of thousands of others humbly living their lives of sincere faith.  Let me tell you about Sister Maximillian.  She was once a self-professed wild child who had an encounter with Jesus as a teen.  She is serving this same Jesus year in and year out at a children's home in New Hampshire.  She and several other nuns work with the children the foster care system has failed, as she herself puts it.  I know this lady, she's real.  She's a hero to our daughters.  Don't insult her with your generalizations about the 1.2 billion people who profess Catholicism. Would you generalize about other groups - blacks, Arabs, rock musicians - based on the behavior of some?  I doubt it, and Catholics deserve the same treatment.

Later in the interview you say, "Religion seems to me to be at the base of all wars."  As an educator, Tom, I have to say you are really off base on this.  Greed and pride are the basis for most wars in history.  None of the wars fought by the United States were religious in nature.  None.  And even wars that seem to be religious in nature rarely are.  In the 1970's and 80's there was the fighting between Protestant and Catholic in Northern Ireland.  The real issue, though, was whether or not Ireland should be loyal to the British crown or to seek independence.  It was never a theological issue, and, in fact, there have always been Protestants on the 'Catholic' side of the issue and vice versa.

Of course, there have been some religious wars, most notably the crusades.  In such situations, I agree with you when you say, "I’ve nothing against defending yourself, but I don’t think, spiritually speaking, that there’s any conception of God that should be telling you to be violent."  I would take it one step further, actually, and say that even worse is when, in a secular war, nations claim that God is on their side alone.  Sounds kinda like of a Dylan song, doesn't it?

You continue by saying, "It seems to me that no one’s got Christ more wrong than the Christians.”  This is not a new sentiment, even among song writers.  From Joe Hill's "Pie in the Sky" written in 1911 to Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Cathedral" to the more recent "Jesus, Jesus" by Noah Gunderson, hypocrisy in the church has been a familiar theme.  When I see false prophets like Harold Camping and Pat Robertson, prosperity gospel con men like Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn, I am tempted to agree with you.  But again, we must resist the temptation to paint with a broad brush.  Did Martin Luther King get Christ wrong?  Did William Wilberforce get Christ wrong as he fought slavery in England's parliament for 17 years?  Did William Booth get Christ wrong when he took on poverty and child labor during Britain's industrial revolution and started the Salvation Army? Did Harriet Beecher Stowe get Christ wrong when she and her pastor-husband took on slavery and changed history with their preaching and her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"?   Did David Wilkerson get Christ wrong when he gave up everything to start an outreach to gang members and addicts in the inner city; a work that has spread worldwide over the last half century?  I think not.  Having lived your life in the limelight, you must realize that the media likes sensationalistic stories, so it is the extremists among Christians who get the press coverage.  Visit a local church and get to know the real people there professing faith in Jesus.  I bet your opinion will change.

Furthermore, hypocrisy in the church should come as no surprise to anyone.  Jesus said there would be "weeds sown among the wheat", false disciples living among the sincere believers.  Your frustration with 'Christians who don't get Christ' only proves Jesus' words on this topic to be true.  I'm not surprised when I see hypocrisy in the church.  But I'm also not surprised when I see sincere, loving believers pouring their lives out for God and others.

Finally, your statement seems to imply that you do "get Christ".  I hope this is true because He is nothing short of amazing!  So, if you consider yourself as someone who 'gets Christ', let me ask you how you're doing with Him?  How are doing with loving your enemy?  Being a peace maker?  Giving all you have to follow him?  Please understand, I am not asking this facetiously.  It is a "narrow road", and we need accountability.  I will pray for you as you seek to 'get him' more and more, and I would ask you pray for me as well. 

Respectfully,

Richard A Hagerstrom

PS  Thank you for the music.  High school really would not have been the same without it.