Dear God, hope you got the letter and I pray you can make it better down here. I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer. But all the people that you made in your image, see them starving on their feet, ’cause they don’t get enough to eat from God.
I can’t believe in you.
Dear God, sorry to disturb you but I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in the amount of tears. And all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting in the street, ’cause they can’t make opinions meet
about God.
Did you make disease, and the diamond blue? Did you make mankind after we made you? (And the devil too?!)
[
Dear God, don’t know if you noticed, but your name is on a lot of quotes in this book. Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look. And all the people that you made in your image, still believing that junk is true, well I know it ain’t,and so do you–Dear God.
I can’t believe in, I don’t believe in…
I won’t believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
You’re always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
Those lost at sea and never found,
and it’s the same the whole world ’round.
The hurt I see helps to compound
that Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
is just somebody’s unholy hoax.
And if you’re up there you’d perceive,
that my heart’s here upon my sleeve.
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in,
When I made the decision to leave faith, it was heart-wrenching. I spent nearly a week wrestling with my new position of Atheist. Did I really believe that there was no God? You know that that means, I’d say in my head, that means that all the adults in your life, your mom, your aunts, uncles, everyone lied to all those years, you wasted your time in church, everything any adult ever told you about God was a lie. Is that the viewpoint you now have?
And if God turns out to be real, I would ponder, and because I’ve tried to live a life of goodness though not a life of faith, will I be forgiven?
I was brought to tears with these feelings between the halls in college, on my slow walks home.
In time, I’d learn that those emotions were the natural feelings that swell inside a person who feels betrayed; and I felt betrayed. I would realize that my parents didn’t lie to me, that all those adults loved me and that they gave me the best information that they had at their disposal–I’ve simply chosen to respectfully disagree with them.
The adults in my life loved me.
And when I hear Alanis Morissette’s dark melody, Forgiven, I’m reminded of my confusing emotions. Unfortunately, I could not find an official video for this song. If you’d like to hear the song, you can do so by clicking here. <————do it, do it, please!
Forgiven
You know how usCatholic girlscan be–
we make up for so much time a little too late.
I never forgot it, confusing as it was,
no fun with no guilt feelings.
The sinners, the saviors, the loverless priests,
Ill see you next Sunday
(chorus)
We all had our reasons to be there.
We all had a thing or two to learn.
We all needed something to cling to–
So we did!
I sang Hallelujah in the choir–Hallelujah.
I confessed my darkest deeds to an envious man.
My brothers they never went blind for what they did,
but I may as well have.
In the name of the father, the skeptic and the son,
I had one more stupid question:
(repeat chorus)
What I learned I rejected but I believe again.
I will suffer the consequence of this inquisition.
If I jump in this fountain, will I be forgiven?
(repeat chorus)
We all had delusions in our head.
We all had our minds made up for us.
We had to believe in something–
So we did.
Alanis Morissette is a Canadian-American poet. She is also an ordained minister. “Forgiven” is on her Jagged Little Pill album, which released in 1995. Her music has a bitter flavor, though dipped in a sweet ring of hope. On the subjects of religion, hypocrisy, and pains of experience, and loved lost, I consider her an expert.
When I hear her sing Forgiven, I’m reminded that losing my religion wasn’t a quick, ok, that’s it. For most secular-minded individuals, the process of moving from theist to freethinker is akin to losing a loved one.
We have lost God.
For those of us Agnostics, Atheists born into a faith via tradition, We have lost a lifetime of experience. Morissette may not have become an Atheist, but she sure is wrestling with the difference between organized religion and faith. It is a line that each of us must walk. We don’t have to make it any more difficult for a person, right?
That’s why we should allow our young ones to decide for themselves what that relationship should look like. That doesn’t mean exposing them to Church is a no-no. It means making young people aware of the various perspectives in a balanced and healthy manner, i.e. without corruption.
Here’s a live version of Morissette at Woodstock ‘99—-
There is no official video of Radiohead’s thought provoking song,Videotape–that I could find. This is a creative overlay of soldiers during battle (presumably the Iraq war) and the album version of the song. The lyrics are written below, take a peek:
When I’m at the pearly gates, This’ll be on my videotape
My videotape, My videotape
When Mephistopheles is just beneath, and he’s reaching up to grab me
This is one for the good days, and I have it all here
In red blue green, in red blue green
You are my center when I spin away, out of control on videotape, On videotape [x6]
This is my way of saying goodbye, because I can’t do it face to face
So I’m talking to you before it’s too late
No matter what happens now, I shouldn’t be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I’ve ever seen.
I’ve been a Radiohead fan for a while now, but their 2007 album, In Rainbows, really pushes the edge of emotional stability. Understand me, I’m not saying the group is insane, I’m saying that their music causes me to dive into emotions that I can’t name or subdue.
The song Videotape is the latest to wrestle control of my senses. It reminds me that there is comfort to be found in religion.
I was so angry, particularly after watching the above video: why can’t I believe Heaven’s real? In fact, why do so many other people, really and truly believe that Heaven exists? Am I broken or something? Radiohead makes me want Heaven, and the peace of mind that comes with the idea. The lead singer’s smooth and steady voice tells me that everything’s true, and everything will be alright.
But that’s the beauty of music. Music can take you places that you would never normally go–there are no judgments in music, no statistical breakdowns. There’s just sound, rhythm, and a response that swells from somewhere deep inside you.
I stole the title from my husband, but it’s true: U2 is one of the few bands capable of, I believe, moving the most ardent Atheist. I find myself completely emotionally invested when I listen to their music, specifically their song Bad, off U2’s The Unforgettable Fire. Take a peek at the lyrics, or watch the video below (the video is live)
Bad by U2
If you twist and turn away, if you tear yourself in two again
If I could, yes I would, If I could, I would
Let it go- Surrender, Dislocate
If I could throw this lifeless lifeline to the wind
Leave this heart of clay, See you walk, walk away
Into the night-and through the rain
Into the half-light-and through the flame
If I could through myself set your spirit free
I’d lead your heart away, see you break, break away
Into the light-and to the day
To let it go
And so to fade away [repeat last]
I’m wide awake [repeat x2]
I’m not sleeping
Oh, no, no, no
If you should ask then maybe they’d
Tell you what I would say
True colors fly in blue and black
Bruised silken sky and burning flag
Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes
If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would
Let it go…
This desperation, dislocation, separation, condemnation, revelation, in temptation, isolation, desolation–Let it go
And so fade away, to let it go
And so fade away, to let it go
And so to fade away
The live video is nice, but the album version is a smooth and thought provoking melody. I was sitting in the back of a very stuffed car the first time I heard the song. We were on the freeway, and as the song played, and as the cars and trees flew by, the emotion of the song overtook me. It’s so hard to explain, especially as a secular person, because the only words that I can use relate to religion. It was closest thing to a religious experience that I’ve ever had.
It was an unexplainable, beautiful and sacred moment; and, God had nothing to do with it (as far as I can prove). So, why am I a Christian whenever I listen to them–I don’t know. I’m overwhelmed by the tone of Bono’s voice, and strength of his lyrical genius. The song itself plays like a mantra, a steady beat thumps in the background. Bono, the lead singer, wants me to let go–let go of my Atheism. He wants to lead my heart into the light.
Bono, as many know, has become an advocate for human rights; he’s given away and helped to raise millions to fight hunger in Africa. Bono-as far as I can tell-is a good Christian. He gives back, tries not to judge, and genuinely believes that God is the way to a better life. Is he perfect? No. But he’s really trying to make a difference, and his passion is present in the music he sings.
I suggest everyone grab Bad—->some other moving U2 songs include “With or Without You”, and “I Will Follow” A definite tone of submission, but submitting oneself isn’t bad once in a while.
Music is a powerful medium for one’s voice on a given subject. It uses figurative language to send it’s message into the world and we, the musically inclined masses, swallow it whole. I first met Green Day while riding a alternative rock wave; so far, only their American Idiot Album has found itself on my shores.
In that album, I came across “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” It’s number four on the track, written by Billy Joe Armstrong. I found the Biblical allusions very bold for a mainstream band like Green Day, yet they were subtle enough to skim the surface of one’s mind. First, let’s skim the lyrics:
I walk a lonely road
the only one that I have ever known.
Don’t know where it goes
but it’s home to me and I walk alone.
I walk this empty street
on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams,
where the city sleeps,
and I’m the only one and I walk alone.
My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me,
my shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating,
sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
–’Til then I walk alone!
I’m walking down the line
that divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone
Read between the lines,
what’s f***** up and everything’s alright.
Check my vital signs
to know I’m still alive and I walk alone.
[the song then repeats stanzas]
After listening to this song for a few times, I casually thought to myself, “yea, I walk alone too. There’s no footprints in the sand next to me.” Now, for those of you aren’t familiar, it is Jesus who walks with us, carries us when we are unable to carry ourselves (according to the Christian faith).
But, Billy makes it clear in Boulevard of Broken Dreams–he needs no one beside him. As you listen to the song, you hear the assured tone in his voice. As the music rises to its climax, the rebelliousness of the song takes shape.
My favorite line is one that I’m sure most secular people are familiar with: “sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
–’Til then I walk alone!” There are times, usually when the isolation of being an Atheist in the Heartland hits hard, that I wish I could believe. It would be so nice to really believe that Jesus was carrying me; it would make my troubles not really mine–they’d be his. But, until religion make it’s case with more clarity, I can only ‘walk alone.’
That–the true belief in God–has always eluded me. I can remember when the ‘footprints’ story finally made sense, somewhere in the 10-11 year old range; I finally got the picture that had hung in the hallway for as long as I could remember. I always wanted to know how it felt to get the ‘holy ghost.’ In church, I’d pretend to pray, only to find myself staring at the people around me: did they REALLY feel the presence of the Lord? Was he in them, but not me? In all my years of going to church, God was never there.
Billy Joe Armstrong isn’t an Atheist, as far as I know. But when you compare Boulevard of Broken Dreams to the footprints in the sand allegory, it’s hard not to see the song as a rejection. The literary parallels spring from both the lyrics and the rhythm as you listen to the poem. It is a not-so-subtle nudge on the groups American Idiot concept album, which attempts to characterize the average American–as well as decide against accepting it.
Billy Joe continues to walk down the line that divides his thoughts on the subject on the album. He unabashedly declares in “Are We The Waiting” that “the Jesus of suburbia is a lie.” While it’s certainly inappropriate to label (there are many interpretations of any one poem), I put Greenday in the Agnostic category, leaning Atheist. They make no overt attempt in their interviews or in subsequent songs on the CD to reject this notion.
The album itself is amazing——>If alternative rock is your thing. Unsure, listen to the song….if you like it, buy the album!
Sinead O’Connor is one of my favorite musicians. Not only is her music true to who she is as a woman, a mother, and a citizen of the planet, but she also manages to REALLY make you think.
When I first heard her song, “All Babies” from her Universal Mother Album (1994), a strong connection was made. Although the meditative rhythm and her unchanging voice drew me in, it was the words and concepts behind those words that kept me in awe.
Let’s take a look at the lyrics:
All babies are born saying God’s name.
Over and over,
All born singing God’s name.
All babies are flown from the Universe,
from there they’re lifted by the hands of angels.
God gives them the stars to use as ladders.
She hears their calls,
She is mother and father.
All babies are born out of great pain.
Over and over
All born into great pain.
All babies are crying.
For no-one remembers God’s name.
[Repeat]
There’s only love, there’s only love, There’s only love in this world.
There’s only love, There’s only love, There’s only love in this world.
Now this song, this poem, can be taken in so many ways. This is true of all poetry. What initially drew me to her song was when she said “She hears their call, She is Mother and Father.” First, it’s just rare to hear God presented with feminine connotations these days. It seems like religious and non-religious alike have all but conceded the fact that if God does exist, God is probably male. But that’s what is so wonderful about Sinead. She challenges that boundary without regret.
I also gave my girls an opportunity to listen to the song (and you should too, it’s beautiful). When they heard the song, they were drawn to what seemed to be a nonstarter: God and screaming aren’t the same thing! So, I talked with them about symbolism: maybe crying is supposed to stand for God for a reason?
“What reason?” they demanded.
I told the girls to keep in mind the fact that Sinead believed in God, and that God was probably an important person in her life. From that perspective, I told them, why would crying equal the voice of God?
Of course they didn’t know; these are abstract ideas, and the further away from concrete reality you go, the quicker you’ll lose the little ones. So I said, here’s what I think: maybe the babies are crying because God is unhappy with his creation? Maybe the way they’ve treated the planet and each other is something Sinead is mad about, so she made the babies cry God’s name so that maybe people would listen?
My oldest daughter said, “Ok, I get it. So Sinead thinks that God thinks that people have been being bad?”—> I love kid logic: it’s so pure!
“Yes.” I said.
“So she made a song. But, she doesn’t really know what God thinks, right?”
I explained to her that this is true. FACT wise, Sinead cannot PROVE that she has spoken to God. But, she can HOPE that if she did talk to God, She would be thinking those things.
It was such a wonderful conversation, and it only lasted for two minutes, after the song was over. There was no judgment–no one said someone else was going to hell. There was no uncomfortableness–we were really just analyzing a woman’s perspective in a song I really liked and the girls had never heard before, and in the end, the conversation ended on a positive note.
You see, it was OK that Sinead believes that through children we hear the best part of us, our essence. It was OK that Sinead’s God was a woman. All of this was OK because two people were allowed to discuss a song, see it through the author’s eyes (without necessarily agreeing with the author), and our personal liberties weren’t impeded in any way.
If we allow children to learn and interact with faith from the standpoint of it being one perspective among many, which it is, then children will grow into adults that won’t start wars over “perspective.” Those adults will then respect each person’s right to their perspective, without feeling somehow slighted, without subverting our Constitutional rights, and without unnecessary loss of human life. So, yes Sinead, all babies are born saying God’s name–from your point of view, and that’s fine with me.
You can listen to Sinead O’Connor’s live performance of “All Babies” by cutting and pasting the link below into your browser:
