Wednesday 29 August 2007

Cool Atheist Music 1 - XTC - Dear God

Okay, here's the first in a (hopefully) regular series of cool music with an atheist view point. This a great track from XTC, and there's a Sarah Mclachlan cover floating round somewhere which gives it a different twist, if you can find it. If anyone has any ideas for cool atheist music feel free to contribute, and hopefully this series can become a little more regular!

UPDATE: For other posts in this series, see here.

4 comments:

Sam D said...

Nice feature, impacting stuff at the end there!

Anonymous said...

Would you say the music of, for instance, Black Sabbath, was Atheist in intent? Or is it more religious in nature by afirming the negative and thereby reinfforcing the positive?

Or maybe its just good headbanging stuff :-)

Ben D said...

Sabbath were pretty standardly theistic - for example take the anti-atheist lyrics to After Forever off Masters of Reality:

Have you ever thought about your soul - can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you're dead you just stay in your grave
Is God just a thought within your head or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?

When you think about death do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?
Well I have seen the truth, yes I've seen the light and I've changed my ways
And I'll be prepared when you're lonely and scared at the end of our days

Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say
If they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticize
that God is the only way to love.

Is your mind so small that you have to fall
In with the pack wherever they run
Will you still sneer when death is near
And say they may as well worship the sun.

I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced
Will you be so sure when your day is near say you don't believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down now you can't retrieve.

Perhaps you'll think before you say that God is dead and gone
Open your eyes, just realize that he's the one
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate.
Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes - I think it's too late.


Interestingly, some of Ozzy Osbourne's later solo albums express a more atheist point of view.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, XTC are an outstanding group, be it now there's but two of the orginals left.Still they've been going 25 years. Other provoking anti-thiest songs XTC have done include: 'Books are Burning' 'Merely A Man' 'The Smartest Monkey' and 'The Balard Of Peter Pumpkinhead'. You can hear these and 700 more Atheist Songs on my 'free to air' internet radio station called 'The Pagan Station'. It's available on live365.com or via www.freewebs.com/paganstation. Cheers. Paul.