In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Brandon Flowers, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the frontman for the rock group The Killers talked about some of the ways that the Mormon faith is misrepresented.
This is not the first time that Brandon has spoken out about his faith. In 2011, he created a video as part of the LDS Church’s “I’m a Mormon campaign.” In 2012, well-known atheist Richard Dawkins attacked his faith on the Norwegian TV show Skavlan. After patiently listening to Dawkins’ rhetoric about The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, Brandon responded, “The book’s been studied and torn apart and looked at—and I am not one of the professors that have done it—but to call this man a charlatan, I take offense to it.” And, in 2015, he shared with NPR’s David Greene and The Daily Beast how Mormonism has made his life and his music better.
In the interview with Rolling Stone, when asked, “What’s the biggest misimpression about Mormonism?” Brandon commented, “There’s this kind of weird mystery around it. With Christianity, you have 2,000 years of separation from when the events took place and these supposed miracles. We don’t have that much separation from Joseph Smith in the 1800s and the other events that took place, so it’s a lot easier to home in on it. People that knew Moses didn’t keep journals, but we actually have that information.” When asked if such things as The Book of Latter-day Saint Musiciansal and South Park which mock Mormonism bother him, he replied, “I’m not losing any sleep over it. Mormonism is still pretty misunderstood.”
During the interview, Brandon was also asked what type of music his sons like. He said:
My middle son, Gunnar, likes Journey, and my oldest boy, Ammon, loves “Life on Mars?” On the way to school, I play the classic rock station. They love to ask questions about the bands and how many of them are alive still, where they came from. What’s crazy is how often the answer is that the singer is dead and that he died from drugs. They also love the Beach Boys song “I Get Around.” One of the highlights of my life came a couple of years ago when we played GeorgeFest and Brian [Wilson] was there. I got to tell him that my kids love his song. It must feel so good to be in that position and know that your music is still living on and affecting people.
The Killers’ newest album, “Wonderful Wonderful,” will be released on 22 September 2017, and the band is currently on tour.
