Kate's Religious Views

[rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)]

PHILOSOPHY
----------
          I try to work on myself spiritually, and am always trying to improve
my outlook on life. We really abuse all that we've got, assuming that we are
so superior as beings, taking the liberty of sticking cement stuff all over
the place. I think there is a lot to astrology, and the effect the moon has
upon us all, but I hate the way it's becoming so trendy now. 
        I'm a vegetarian, and now that's trendy as well...but what annoys me
the most is the way people are so automatically cynical about astrology. I
mean, the Greeks put an incredible amount of hard work into carefully planned
geometric charts, based purely on mathematics. People just shrug it off. It's
the same with coincidence, as I said in the song "Strange Phenomena".   (1978,
The Blossoming Ms. Bush)

     I ASKED KATE IF SHE WAS INTO THE OCCULT OR ASTROLOGY OR ANYTHING, COS THE
WORDS AND BAT-DEMON VISUALS SOMETIMES SUGGEST A BIT OF A FASCINATION WITH ALL
THAT, BUT DREW A BLANK.
     HOWEVER, I do believe in spirits, and I also believe that people
communicate by much more than word of mouth. There are people like beacons
sitting on top of hills. You must have some friends that you can just feel
calling you some days. They're just saying "help!" and you pick it up.  (1980,
Zigzag)

        HOW IMPORTANT ARE MATERIAL THINGS TO YOU, AND DO YOU ENJOY HAVING
MONEY? 
        I think I've just started enjoying money.  It's very useful.  But I'd
like to think that I don't depend on it.  Alot of things I do do, like an
album, without money I wouldn't be able to record an album.    But I would
still be able to write the songs again.  But you know there is something great
about making an album.
        IS THERE ONE MATERIAL THING ABOVE ALL OTHERS THAT YOU DON'T HAVE RIGHT
NOW, THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE?  
        No, nothing material, no. 
        IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE, SPIRITUAL OR OTHERWISE, THAT YOU DON'T HAVE?
        Oh yeah!  Now that's a completely different area.   That's huge.  You
see the material is so superficial, and it really doesn't matter.  What it's
good for is comforts.  And it can help you sorta get things done quicker, that
sort of thing.  The other side is the real side, that's the real riches of
your life.  And I've got a long long way to go there, I mean spiritually, as a
person.  And a lot of things in my behavior pattern that I would love to
change.  So that I could...
        [LIKE] WHAT? 
        Very personal things.  I don't really you could even put a label on
them, little behavior things that I know I do that are stopping me from doing
more things.  Like maybe a certain kind of laziness I have about certain
things - I think oh no [MAKES LAZY MOTION].  If I could make the effort again
in these little areas I could be getting more.  Things like that.    (1980,
Profiles In Rock)

     MANY OF YOUR SONGS CONTAIN REFERENCES TO OCCULT AND ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY.
IS THIS A PARTICULAR INTEREST OF YOURS, OR ARE YOU JUST
WIDELY READ?
     I don't think I am particularly interested in the occult, but I do have
an interest in the human mind, and the unusual situations that occur, or are
said to occur, to human beings in extreme religious or spiritual states. But
surely we all have a curiosity for things that we know little about.  (1984,
KBC 16)

        YOU TALK ABOUT ENERGIES QUITE A LOT.  DO YOU SUBSCRIBE TO A PARTICULAR
THEORY OR RELIGION OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT?
        [LAUGHING]  Subscribe to a monthly manual.
        YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
        No, I don't, really.  But I do think certain things help, like I think
trying to be positive about things is a very helpful thing.  It can just stop
you getting down, and to try and enjoy things if you can.  But I don't have
any kind of religious beliefs, really.  (1985, Picture Disk)

        HAVE YOU ANY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
     No. not, not ones that I could name. I mean, I do believe in certain... I
suppose, cause and effect is something that I would believe in a bit, but
whether they're religious beliefs, I don't know.
        "CAUSE AND EFFECT" - EXPLAIN THAT.
        Well, I think if you behave I a certain way, then that energy will
come back to you. the boomerang syndrome.
        SO THE MORE POSITIVE ONE IS IN THEIR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS, THE MORE
POSITIVE LIFE THEY WILL LEAD? AND VICE VERSA?
        Ah, yes, I would...i think there is a lot in that. I think there's
also a lot in that if you are positive and can be, even if things around you
aren't necessarily coming back, at least you cope with them better.: so you
think there's this sort of powerful force behind it all?  yes, I think it's
actually a survival technique, a self-preservation where if you can always
keep coming back, keep coming up again, not staying down there, then you're
going to get a lot more done, you're going to be a lot more in control of
what's happening than if you're depressed, unhappy.  (1985, Conversation
Series 1)

RELIGION
--------
     WHAT IS YOUR FEELING ABOUT THE CHURCH AND RELIGION?
        It is a very powerful, widely influential force that has extreme good
and bad effects on people.  (1984, KBC 17)

        WE'RE GOING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT NOW.  DO YOU SEE A CONNECTION
BETWEEN MYSTICISM AND SCIENCE? 
        I don't know, I'm sure there is.  I think there's a connection between
everything, I think everything is linked up somehow, you just got to find
where they meet.  
        DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A RELIGIOUS PERSON? 
        That's a question that I get asked a lot.  Some people come in,
they're so convinced that I'm of a particular order.  [LAUGHS]  And I think
everyone has something in them that is seeking some kind of religion, but
whether I call myself a religious person - I don't think so, no.  But I think
I am fascinated by religious imagery, I think most people are.  And it's one
of those things that has an incredibly extreme effect on people and that, from
a writer's point of view, is fascinating.  (1985, MTV)

        HAVE YOU DEFINED YOUR RELIGIOUS FEELINGS? 
        No, I don't think so.  I was a Roman Catholic and brought up in Roman
Catholic schools.  I would never say I was a strict follower of Roman Catholic
belief, but a lot of the images are in there; they have to  be,they're so
strong.  Such powerful beautiful, passionate images!  There's a lot of
suffering in Roman Catholicism.  I think I'm looking for not necessarily
religion, but ways of helping myself to become more understanding, more
complete, a happier person-what we all want in life.  But I really don't think
I've found a niche.   (1990, Q Special)
  

AND SOME OTHER QUOTES: 

And it was the same sort of thing with Waking the Witch on the new album. What
fascinated me in doing that song was the idea of a witch-hunter hiding behind
the priesthood, as a guise, and coming to get this woman who isn't a witch,
but he wants to make her so. The girl closes her eyes to get away from it and
goes to a church where it's safe and secure. You know, churches are supposed
to be places of sanctuary and their doors are never shut, even perhaps for
people being chased by the Devil; but the priest turns out to be the
witch-hunter. I didn't really have any heavy experiences like those that the
song is about. It's based very much on other people's imagery of Roman
Catholicism which I've found fascinating--you know, the kind of oppression,
even madness, it can create, I suppose, in some people. And it's much more
that, really, than any personal experience of my own. My school was Roman
Catholic, so there was a big emphasis on religion, but it wasn't incredibly
strict, and I didn't really go to church an awful lot, so I don't think the
experience of religion was as heavy for me as for a lot of people..."


Do you lead your life by any sort of set rules or set standards.  
        K: Oh, yeah.  I have what I call my own religion.  I think everyone's
got their own religion.  They are various certain things I stick by. 
        Ed: Such as?
        K: Such as not eating meat.  Such as trying to be aware of people
around me and doing my work and trying to be positive about it.  I think being
positive is very important. 
        Ed: Good.  I wonder if Jim Belhouse is positive up their in
Inbakeyhee.  [Kate Laughs]
        Jim: Very Positive! [Kate laughs]
        Ed: Very positive, are you Jim? 
        Jim: Ah, yes.  Hello Kate! 
        K: Hello. 
        Jim: There's just one thing I'd like to say just before I start
talking to Kate.  I'd like to, on behalf of myself and my family, thank Radio
1 for making it possible that we are able to speak to Kate tonight.  And I
praise God, you know, because there is only one and He's in charge of all of
us. [Kate Laughs] And I'd like to thank all the BBC and the trouble that
they've gone to in putting on this program.  
        Ed: Thank you.  You're not the head of Radio Scotland are you?  [Kate
laughs]
        Jim: Ah, well you've heard of Brother Jim?  
        Ed: [Laughs]  Anyway Jim.  Thanks for your call.  Was there anything
you wanted to ask Kate?
        Jim: Well, I would like to ask Kate... Well I believe I already have
the answer... I would like to ask Kate if she believes in God?
        K: Believe in God?  Well I think there are a lot of Gods and I
certainly believe in my God, but I wonder if it's the same God as yours. 
        Jim: Well, I believe that it is.  Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ?
        K: I believe in him, but he's not the one I live my life by, I must
admit.  
        Jim: We, as Christians, we do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I
know for a fact that if you believe in God and he has it written that the only
way to him is through the Lord Jesus Christ then I believe that your God is
the same as mine. 
        K: So do I.  I believe if you believe in anything... I mean if God is
really... I hate to say this because it sounds blasphemous, but God is in fact
some kind of label for people to put all their belief and love into.  And I
think that if people put all their belief and love into other people and what
they're doing, then I think you do find it, I think you do reach an aim.  
        Ed: Alright, Kate.  Thank you Jim for your call! 
        Jim: Well, um...
        Ed: No, um we've got loads of calls on the line so I'll have to cut
your short there.  But that you very much for your interest. 
        K: Thanks, Jim! 
        Ed: There he goes, alright back to you Sue.


There are probably more quotes that I haven't added into the next edition yet.

 


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