Music for (and against) atheists.

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Permalink Reply by Undo on July 18, 2008 at 10:58am

DZK - Bow Down

http://www.warlab.com/clips/
Search for "bow down" - it's toward the bottom. You can even download the mp3 for free. I love it!

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Permalink Reply by AxisofJared on July 18, 2008 at 1:21pm

Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity
Calculate what we will, or will not tolerate
Desperate to control all and everything
Unable to forgive your scarlet letterman

Clutch it like a cornerstone; Otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end
Clutch it like a cornerstone; Otherwise it all comes down
Terrified of being wrong; Ultimatum prison cell

Saturn ascends, choose one or ten
Hang on or be humbled again...

(This has to be a criticism of religion)

---

I embrace my desire to
Embrace my desire to
Feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow
To feel inspired to fathom the power, to witness the beauty,
To bathe in the fountain,
To swing on the spiral
To swing on the spiral
To swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human.

(I think this is humanistic)

---

Choices always were a problem for you
What you need is someone strong to guide you
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow
What you need is someone strong to guide you

Like me

If you want to get your soul to heaven
Trust in me, now don't you judge or question
You are broken now but faith can heal you
Just do everything I tell you to do

Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow
What you need is someone strong to guide you
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow
Let me lay my holy hand up, hand upon you

Thy god's will
Becomes me
When he speaks
He speaks through me
He has needs
Like I do
We both want
To rape you

Jesus Christ, why don't you come save my life now?
Open my eye, blind me with your light now
Jesus Christ, why don't you come save my life now?
Open my eye, blind me with your light now

---

This is all from TOOL.

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Permalink Reply by Chip on July 19, 2008 at 8:44am

My most hated God-centric music is the music they played in the Catholic Church. Not only did I not want to be there, but the music put me to sleep, and made the service feel even more dragged out. An hour has never felt so long since I stopped going to church.

On the other hand, I love musicals, and one of my favorites is Les Miserables, which has a great deal of religiosity in it. Interesting side note, though. The author of the book (Victor Hugo) wrote "Les Mis" as a Catholic and died a Free Thinker.

Lastly, I don't know about popular songs, but I grew up in the punk scene, where there is no lack of secular themed music. How about I just go with Bad Religion's songs.

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Permalink Reply by Cliff on July 19, 2008 at 8:32pm

Very funny! And if I read the end credits right, that's actually Joan Osborne singing this version too? Ha.

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Permalink Reply by Gold Guy on November 23, 2008 at 3:46pm

Whoa, I think maybe I misunderstood the point of "What if God was One of Us." I always thought it was the most irritating tautological songs ever, maybe even more so than Jerry Reed's "When you're hot, you're hot." I mean, if he/it is one of us then he/it isn't. Maybe she wanted people to think. Not sure, but if she meant it in a similar vein as "What if god smoked cannabis" that would make it less irritating. Note that Joan Osborne didn't write the song, it was written by Eric Bazilian fo the Hooters.

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Permalink Reply by dGolden on July 19, 2008 at 8:58pm

Bad Religion, anybody? They've been around forever and have had a few songs with regular air play. They're a punk band, so probably not everyone's cup of tea. But the tunes are catchy, and the lyrics are often thought-provoking. Check out their songs "Atheist Peace," "Faith in god," "God's Love," "Fuck Armageddon, this is hell," "American Jesus," to name a few.

From "American Jesus"


I don't need to be a global citizen,
'Cause I'm blessed by nationality,
I'm a member of a growing populace,
We enforced our popularity
There are things that seem to pull us under and
There are things that drag us down,
But there's a power and a vital presence
That's lurking all around

We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate,
We've got the American Jesus
He helped build the president's estate

I feel sorry for the earth's population
'Cause so few live in the U.S.A,
At least the foreigners can copy our morality,
They can visit but they cannot stay,
Only precious few can garner our prosperity,
It makes us walk with renewed confidence,
We've got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here

We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering their ship of faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

He's the farmer barren fields, (In God)
The force the army wields, (We trust)
The expression in the faces of the starving millions, (Because he's one of us)
The power of the man. (Break down)
He's the fuel that drives the Klan, (Cave in)
He's the motive and the conscience of the murderer (He can redeem your sins)
He's the preacher on TV, (Strong heart)
The false sincerity, (Clear mind)
The form letter that's written by the big computer, (And indefinitely kind)
He's the nuclear bombs, (You lose)
And the kids with no moms (We win)
And I'm fearful that he's inside me (He is our champion)

We've got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We've got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority
We've got the American Jesus
Bolstering their ship of faith
We've got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

One nation under God(x10)

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Permalink Reply by Undo on July 21, 2008 at 8:40am

Good call! BR is one of my most favorite bands ever!

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Permalink Reply by Coughcool on June 18, 2010 at 9:59pm

Brilliant song by Bad Religion

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Permalink Reply by Matt Sheppard on July 22, 2008 at 4:14pm

Good questions...
I find most self-defined "christian music" is marketed as such precisely because it would be unable to really get by on it's own merrit, without the christ-gimmick...so for the most part, I think that that stuff is terrible simply by definition.
I definitely get turned off by anything to pious or preachy in other forms of music though as well, and it can even spoil an otherwise good song for me.

However, a lot of my favorite artists manage to work their faith into their music, often subtly (though sometimes even overtly) without getting in the way of my ability to enjoy the music. Nick Cave, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club come to mind as examples. In a related vein, New Model Army, another favorite of mine, tend to be fairly anti-science in a lot of their lyrics (although often just as anti-christian...and just contrarian in general) but there is so much more to their music, that I am able to simply disagree with that one aspect and get past it.
Others can be more ambiguous about it. Tom Waits, for example seems to reference god in the blues tradition when writing in that style, but represents god and religion negatively in other work.

In the end I try to appreciate music and art simply for what it is, and not for the views of the author as long as that view doesn't become so overt as to overshadow all other aspects of the work.

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Permalink Reply by Zeb on October 10, 2008 at 11:38pm

I've listened to Gregorian Chant before, which I suppose might be pro-christian, still I like the stuff in some weird way I can't explain.
Other music I enjoy but think that Christians may approve of would be something like Vangelis' 'Voices' or maybe less so, a song like 'Paralyze' by the Cardigans. That might be a stretch though, depending on the sect.

As for directly anti-christian music, my first thought goes to good ol' Gary Numan, of whom I was surprised to discover two years ago, was still producing stuff. Or well, had, back in the 90's. If you're into 'electronica' with a goth-industrial bent, Exile isn't too shabby. In particular, the song Angel Wars really floored me at first for it's blatant refutation of the divine. My description won't do it justice, I recommend you check it out for yourself.

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Permalink Reply by Mika on October 11, 2008 at 4:08am

"Apocalyptica - I'm Not Jesus" - I love Apocalyptica.

I also find Linkin Park - Runaway a bit anti-religious.

"Graffiti decorations
Under the sky of dust
A constant wave of tension
On top of broken trust
The lessons that you taught me
I learned were never true

Pre chorus:
Now I find myself in question
They point the finger at me again
Guilty by association
You point the finger at me again

I wanna run away
Never say goodbye
I wanna know the truth
Instead of wondering why
I wanna know the answers
No more lies
I wanna shut the door
And open up my mind

Paper bags and angry voices
Under a sky of dust
Another wave of tension
Has more than filled me up
All my talk of taking action
These words were never true

Pre chorus
Chorus
I’m gonna run away, and never say goodbye
Gonna run away (2x)
I’m gonna run away and never wonder why
Gonna run away (2x)
I’m gonna run away and open up my mind
Gonna run away (4x)".

The next one is in finnish and this is quite popular band in finland. The lyrics are quite anti-religious too.

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Permalink Reply by Mika on October 11, 2008 at 4:48am

Oh i forgot to add the name of the band. The last one is Apulanta - Jumala (god)

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