"Music is the language of a world that comprehends us, but we have no comprehension of it." - Ludwig van Beethoven. I am an atheist, and in a conceptual form, I subscribe to this.

Music makes me cry with joy, cry with infinite sadness, cry with sentimentality. Without any connecting to prior or remembered or memorized experience, notion, or emotional connection.

This can happen to me having words in the lyrics that guide the listener, or listening to pure instrumental music.

:death: :flower:

"No eternal reward
will forgive us now
for wasting the
dawn"
~JDM

"Because I feel like bombing a church
Now, now that you know
that the preacher
is lying
So who's going to stay at home
When, when the freedom fighters
are fighting"
~BMW

"Far away
Across the field
Tolling on the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell"
~PF

"When you believe in things
That you don't understand
Then you suffer ..."
~SW

"Now, don't hang on,
nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, 
and all your money won't another minute buy"
~K

"Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out the trees,
now I'm on my knees
Cover me,
darling please

[ ... ]

Cover me when I sleep
Cover me when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine,
make the monkey blind
Cover me,
darling please"
~PG

Well, are you speaking of art, or only music? Islamic visual arts can be quite impressive. Believe it or not, some might say, even, that the arabesques of the Alhambra surpass in magnificence such masterpieces as "Love Me Do" or "Basket Case" or if we speak of punk generally, the superlative "Never Mind the Bollocks."

As for music, classical music of the West, when not specifically religious as in the case of requiems, masses or hymns, or program music such as that of Wagner, can likely be described as a-religious if there is such a word. The same can be said of jazz.

Outside of that, I'll mention "The Vast Indifference of Heaven" by the late, great Warren Zevon.

What aesthetics can you tell us about, reader, from art that speaks to you about atheism? — Gregory

I'm not sure what this question is asking, or why it would be considered interesting. I'm a devout atheist, but I don't look to music to reaffirm my atheism.

There are of course songs that do speak eloquently about atheism. E.g., John Lennon's "Imagine", and XTC's "Dear God". One might take a personal interpretation of atheism from REM's "Losing My Religion", though that's not really what it was intended to be about.

Most pop and rock music, etc., is neither religious nor atheistic, however. The music and/or lyrics speak to us with beauty, meaning, fun, sadness, and/or comfort, etc.. Typically religion or lack of it has nothing to do with most songs, or other forms of contemporary mainstream, indie, or "alternative" music.

|>ouglas

I've encountered over and over again that religious and spiritual people want to co-opt aesthetic and sublime experience for their own ideologies. I think they're just misinterpreting these experiences to be religious/spiritual.

But I don't need God or any other woo-woo to experience the Sublime.

Definitely impressed by the arabesques. Hadnt heard of Zevon till now

You picked the weak songs. "I'll Be Back" is great. I have always thought the Beatles aura-mystique was atheistic, but Rome likes them now. Are they stealing our material? Youtube has a live version of Take Five which is neat to watch (white guys in glasses doing it!).

:up:

It's not so much atheist as antitheist, maybe atheist by way of the Problem of Evil:

You're such an inspiration for the ways
That I'll never ever choose to be
Oh so many ways for me to show you
How the savior has abandoned you
Fuck your God
Your Lord and your Christ
He did this
Took all you had and
Left you this way
Still you pray, you never stray
Never taste of the fruit
You never thought to question why
It's not like you killed someone
It's not like you drove a hateful spear into his side
Praise the one who left you
Broken down and paralyzed
He did it all for you — Judith, A Perfect Circle

(Purportedly about the unwavering religiosity of a terminally ill loved one of the author).

Zevon was a unique talent, I think, much underappreciated.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet was unusual in its "whiteness" during its heyday in the 1960s. In the days when Charlie Parker, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Art Blakely, Dizzy Gillespie and later Roland Kirk and Yusef Lateef (to name some personal favorites) dominated, it was something of a rarity. Not so now, I believe, if the performers I've seen at Chicago jazz clubs are any indication.

Regardless, I think most music isn't religious.

It would be cool if there was ACM - Atheist Contemporary Music, or inspirational music for atheists.

It would be cool if there was ACM - Atheist Contemporary Music, or inspirational music for atheists. — Noble Dust

In my opinion all music that has no explicitly religious text for lyrics, can be viewed as atheistic, and theistic at the same time but not in the same respect.

Everyone can enjoy music, even baboons and chimpanzees do. My uncle's dog sang along with Mozart and Rossini, and believe me, he was a staunch Roman Catholic.

They say wheat fields bring a larger yield if classical music plays in the fields in July, and they say the Coral-area Gooblefish and the colourful Geddifish of the south seas change sex spontaneosly when they listen to Black Sabbath.

I was referencing this

Coral-area Gooblefish and the colourful Geddifish of the south seas change sex spontaneosly when they listen to Black Sabbath — god must be atheist

As do I.

Black Sabbath was reputed to be a devil-worshipper's band. In the late sixties or early seventies, to counter this myth, they released an album, "Master of Reality" with very storng theist and religious lyrics, all devotional to god. The effect? Their reputation as Satan's band tripled.

As do I. — Pfhorrest

Some of we also knows you also change your species when listening to Phish.

Total mind-body immersion into music appreciation.

yeah, Contemporary Christian music... You know you're getting old when you hear your youth's favourite hard-rock band's most radical song over the p/a system at Walmart as background music.

Contemporary Christian music sounds like the musak of yesteryear (make it 1938?)

Here is an example of what I would consider atheistic music. No spirit, no soul. The music doesn't breathe and its locked onto a metronome.

Atheists are robots now? Hah, that's a new one, I gotta admit.

:rofl:

The Only Way
Emerson, Lake & Palmer

People are stirred moved by the word.
You kneel at the shrine, deceived by the wine.

How was the earth conceived? In finite space.
Is there such a place? You must believe in the human race.

Can you believe? God makes you breathe.
Why did he lose six million Jews?

~~~~

Touched by the wings, fears angel brings
Sad winter storm, grey autumn dawn
Who looks on life itself, who lights your way?
Only you can say. How can you just obey?
It's the only way.

Don't need the word, now that you've heard.
Don't be afraid: man is man made.
And when the hour comes, don't turn away
Face the light of day. And do it your way.
It's the only way.

Songwriters: Anthony Paul Grantham / Jaime Brian Harding / Phillip Cunningham

I love this! Thanks, Matt, for posting this video.

The music itself sucks. But the visuals -- the robots playing it -- brings life to the performance. You feel the vibes. You feel their hearts pounding with the beat.

I bet the base player gets all the chicks in the back stage. Which one would you go for, @Artemis?

"The soul in the machine."

I don't have posting privileges, so here's a link to a song depicting a soulless soul's soul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVuSYUNAekc

:cool:

back @ ya --



"What God wants God gets (God help us all)
What God wants God gets

The kid in the corner looked at the priest
And fingered his pale blue Japanese guitar
The priest said
God wants goodness
God wants light
God wants mayhem
God wants a clean fight

What God wants God gets

Don't look so surprised
It's only dogma
The alien prophet cried
The beetle and the springbok
Took the Bible from its hook
The monkey in the corner
Wrote the lesson in his book

What God wants God gets (God help us all)
God wants peace
God wants war
God wants famine
God wants chain stores

What God wants God gets
God wants sedition
God wants sex
God wants freedom
God wants Semtex

What God wants God gets

Don't look so afraid
I'm only joking
The alien comic lied
The jackass and hyena
Took the feather from its hook
The monkey in the corner
Wrote the joke down in his book

What God wants God gets
God wants boarders
God wants crack
God wants rainfall
God wants wetbacks

What God wants God gets
God wants voodoo
God wants shrines
God wants law
God wants organised crime
God wants crusade
God wants jihad
God wants good
God wants bad

What God wants God gets"

"What God Wants, pt 1"
by Roger Waters (1992)

People, what have you done
Locked Him in His golden cage
Golden cage
Made Him bend to your religion
Him resurrected from the grave
From the grave
He is the God of nothing
If that's all that you can see
You are the God of everything
He's inside you and me
So lean upon Him gently
And don't call on Him to save you
From your social graces
And the sins you used waive
You used to waive
The bloody Church of England
In chains of history
Requests your earthly presence at
The vicarage for tea
And the graven image you know
With His plastic crucifix
He's got him fixed
Confuses me as to who and where and why
As to how he gets his kicks
He gets his kicks
Confessing to the endless sin
The endless whining sounds
You'll be praying 'til next Thursday to
All the Gods that you can count

back at ya -- — 180 Proof

:gasp: :up:



[chorus]

"Preacherman, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold;
'Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. Come on!

[chorus]

"Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. Jah!

[chorus]

"We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (What you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)"

[chorus]

"Get Up, Stand Up"
by Bob Marley & Peter Tosh (1973)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet was unusual in its "whiteness" during its heyday in the 1960s. [...] something of a rarity. — Ciceronianus the White

Eugene Wright, the bass player with the Dave Brubeck quartet during the '60s, was not white.

Perhaps through at least the '60s, whites were somewhat a minority in jazz, but never rare. Since at least the 1920s, jazz has had many famous white musicians.

:up: