Athlete tell Q about their Christian background.

MAINSTREAM pop rock team Athlete spoke in the July Q magazine about their Christian beliefs. Lead singer Joel Pott was outspoken in his response to a tabloid article that accused the band of hiding their beliefs. "That was such bollocks! We're not hiding anything." Drummer Steve Roberts agreed. "They were basically saying our faith wasn't as important to us as it should be, because otherwise we'd be ramming it down people's throats. But if we did preach to people, we'd get slated for that too! Man, you can't win!"

While they freely admit to still having faith, only keyboard player Tim Wanstall still attends church with any regularity and all are keen to distance themselves from organised religion. "It's the word 'religion' we have a problem with," says Pott. "'Religion' isn't about faith, it's about rules and regulations. As soon as you say, 'I'm a Christian,' you're labelled with a lot of things you're not. I've walked past the guy on Oxford Street preaching eternal damnation and I'm like, 'Ah, man! I'm just a million miles away from you!'" "We know it's not perceived as cool," says Roberts, "but then it's not like we've ever tried to be cool anyway."