[Uchiha Sasuke]

Stapp ran away from home in 1990, when he was 17, and indulged in all things prohibited. Four years later, he reconnected with high school acquaintance Tremonti in Tallahassee, where Tremonti was a student at Florida State University. There they formed Creed. Those four years, during which Stapp struggled to reconcile his stepfather's understanding of God with his own, have provided seemingly endless song fodder. "The way I was taught religion, what got lost was love and forgiveness, and what got pushed was condemnation and guilt," Stapp says. "That's where the church loses it. That's why I don't step foot in church."

Stapp is the father of a 3-year-old boy, Jagger, the offspring of his 16-month marriage to his ex-wife, Hillaree, now 23. "She's young," Stapp says, "and she wants to experience things. So, my sister Amanda helps out, but I'm basically Jagger's mom and dad." Single fatherhood is a big responsibility, but Stapp is up for the task, particularly when it comes to teaching his son a different brand of spirituality. "God wasn't revealed to me for 17 years of my life," he says. "God was revealed to me when I went away from that and had my own experiences. God was revealed to me through humanity and nature and everything that's around us. That's how I'm raising my son. If he wants to go to church, he can go to church, when he's old enough to make that decision.

"Right now, Christianity is perceived by society as hypocrisy. That's what I don't like about the word 'Christianity': Christians around the world distort the true meaning of what Christ said in the Bible -- 'Let's just love everybody.' I mean, look at the Catholic Church. Those priests should be treated exactly like anyone who's committed a crime against a child. If it was my child, the priest would never make it to court."

Clearly, Stapp is a doting parent -- one who has a tip for other parents: "They need to be involved in their kid's life in every way -- what music they listen to, what parties they go to, who they're hanging out with. And then try to relate to them on their level -- communicate with them. That way, if 15 kids are picking on him at school, but he knows he has a sanctuary at home, he won't want to pick up a gun and kill them all."

If Stapp knows a thing or two about kids, it's not merely because he's a father, but because he's a musician -- a pop musician in a wide, wild world that he and his bandmates so grandly inhabit. He knows words and images live forever.

"Sex and violence sell. Even preteens are talking about sex and having sex and picking up guns and shooting guns," he says. "Ultimately, it's up to parents to decide what they allow in their home, but musicians need to check themselves and realize what they're putting out there, what young ears are being exposed to.

"For every time Eminem -- who's obviously hurting inside, and kids just want to hear how far he's gonna go this time -- for every time he comes on the radio or MTV, there's got to be something positive. Something with merit. Something with heart. That's what we do."


heres the link to the story

https://www.usaweekend.com/02_issues/...20804cover.jpg