[extropy-chat] Atheist Hymn Book

[Thomas]

Well, yes I have some ideas . . . in song form.  One in particular comes 
to mind.  It's called "There Is A Light" and the music is in a fun kind 
of "holy roller" gospel style.  I agree with Ayn Rand that the sense of 
exaltation is not to be limited to the domain of religious expression. 
 I am interested in a venue for this type of expression -- someplace 
where I'd feel more at home than in churches or bars.  -- Thomas Oliver

Emlyn wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I just watched those vids on youtube of Richard Dawkins talking about
>his new book "The God Delusion" [1], and was inspired. Imagine someone
>taking the case for Atheism out there in times like these, especially
>in the US! What a legend. I haven't read the book yet, unfortunately,
>still have to go get myself a copy.
>
>Anyway, it got me to thinking about one of the big things that Atheism
>lacks, which is the traditions and general apparatus of religion.
>Holidays, ceremonies, teachings, community. Culture.
>
>For those who don't know me, I'm a singer, and sing in a lot of
>christian churches, solo and choral, but I've been an atheist all my
>life  Actually by Huxley's definition I'm an agnostic, but in the hard
>sense of "the existence of god is unknowable by definition", which is
>in practice a hardline atheist (in that for me theism falls in the
>santa clause, tooth fairy, etc camp, strictly unknowable and therefore
>by Occam's Razor to be sliced out of any model of reality). Yet I
>spend a lot of time in churches, as part of the church community,
>because it is the institution that most supports a type of music that
>I am involved in (church music, choral music, oratorio, etc). I don't
>attend church as part of the flock, only as part of the show.
>
>The culture that comes with religion is easy to deride, but I've been
>seeing it in detail as an outsider for many years now. The
>cultural/community side of the church clearly provides purpose and
>meaning to many people, and the labours of people involved in it seem
>to do an awful lot of good. There's a lot of feeding the poor, caring
>about injustices, working for a better future, going on in the
>grassroots of the churches (especially the old ones). I put this down
>to the focus of religion, which is to think about the basis for and
>reason for existence. Although they clearly get the answers dreadfully
>wrong, this focus, and the associated devotion to at least a couple of
>hours every week to getting together with other likeminded people and
>ruminating on the big questions, seems to create groups of people who
>can find it in their hearts to do something (even something miniscule)
>to improve the lot of other people who need help.
>
>Now, there are atheist equivalents of course - all secular endeavour
>could be classed in this way. I'm not saying that atheists are
>heartless uncaring bastards, far from it. However, there does seem to
>be a gap there, no sense of the unity, the community and culture, that
>religious people enjoy.
>
>Again, as far as culture goes, that doesn't matter so much a lot of
>the time, because all of secular culture counts as atheist culture by
>default (does it?). However, the acknowledgement of a scientific world
>view, and the way that ties in with the very human sense of wonder and
>appreciation of the universe, is something that doesn't really seem to
>get a run. Especially in a time when theists are more prevalent, and
>at times more oppressive, than they've been in a long while (people in
>the US might particularly resonate with this), it's a time when
>atheism as a world view could do with a bit more unity, a bit more
>cohesion. I think this requires some kind of establishment of
>culture/community/tradition.
>
>I think establishing atheist community is a hard problem. Dawkins says
>in one of the videos that organising atheists is like herding cats,
>and I believe there is a very good reason for this, which is that
>Atheism is not a belief system, it is a lack of belief. Contrary to
>many religious folks' contention that atheism is just another defacto
>belief system (and hence equivalent to religion), it is this aspect of
>it (that there is no culture/community) which most clearly shows that
>it is not. I think in the end, it is very much harder for people to
>rally around a lack of belief in something, than it is to rally around
>a positive belief. Furthermore, the *only* tenet of atheism is to be
>without god, so atheists differ greatly in their beliefs and values.
>
>Nevertheless, I think it would be a worthwhile thing to try to
>establish such community, now more so than ever. Atheism is a dirty
>word these days, it's a scary time to stand up and commit to being
>one.
>
>To this end, in my own little way I'd like to try to add a bit of
>celebratory culture, by way of some music. As I said above, I sing a
>lot of religious music[2], and would love to have music that had the
>same benefits (expressing the big issues of life) without the
>drawbacks (fundamentally flawed premise).
>
>So in my long winded way, I'm asking a question, which is, if there
>were to be an Atheist hymn book, what would be in it? New music, or
>existing songs, both are ok. What would the songs be about? What do we
>have to celebrate, and how would you like to hear it expressed?
>
>So, got ideas?
>
>Emlyn
>http://www.emlynoregan.com
>
>[1] Reading of The God Delusion in Lynchburg, VA
>http://richarddawkins.net/article,303,Reading-of-The-God-Delusion-in-Lynchburg-VA,Richard-Dawkins--C-SPAN2
>
>[2] Godless Heathen (an article by me about why I sing religious music)
>http://emlynoregan.com/wu_Generic.aspx?PageName=showarticle&AID=1
>_______________________________________________
>extropy-chat mailing list
>extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>
>  
>