# Is this the first Atheist Hymn?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 11, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250 "2010-11-11T00:00:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/1 "2010-11-11T00:00:07Z")
Saw this hilarious bit from Steve Martin’s banjo tour. Steve has done some crap later in his career but this is reminiscent of his brilliant comedy.
> **[Steve Martin Sings An Atheist Gospel Song (VIDEO)](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-martin-atheist-gospel_n_781535)**
>
> Steve Martin Sings An Atheist Gospel Song (VIDEO)
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/2 "2010-11-11T00:24:15Z")
Brilliant!
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/3 "2010-11-11T03:33:18Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#):
>
> hilarious
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> Brilliant!
Painfully unfunny.
To each his own.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/4 "2010-11-11T03:36:55Z")
Speaking as a Catholic who loved Steve in the Seventies…
That was pretty weak. Not offensive in the least, but not at all funny, either.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/5 "2010-11-11T06:48:57Z")
Pretty funny!
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/6 "2010-11-11T07:28:11Z")
Oh dear.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/7 "2010-11-11T13:15:53Z")
I enjoyed it. But I love how he over-intellectualizes silliness.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/8 "2010-11-11T13:20:17Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#):
>
> Saw this hilarious bit from Steve Martin’s banjo tour. Steve has done some crap later in his career but this is reminiscent of his brilliant comedy.
> [Steve Martin Sings An Atheist Gospel Song (VIDEO) | HuffPost Entertainment](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/steve-martin-atheist-gospel_n_781535.html)
I saw this on Austin City Limits. Very well done.
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### Author:  [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/9 "2010-11-11T16:39:25Z")
That was funny in parts but pretty thinly so for how much song you had to get through to get to those parts.
Here I thought the subject line was going to be serious. Certainly there have been songs proclaiming freethought and atheism. The traditional one is “Thoughts Are Free” (_Die Gedanken Sind Frei_), but I’m a fan of XTC’s “Dear God.”
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/10 "2010-11-11T17:03:17Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#):
>
> That was funny in parts but pretty thinly so for how much song you had to get through to get to those parts.
>
> Here I thought the subject line was going to be serious. Certainly there have been songs proclaiming freethought and atheism. The traditional one is “Thoughts Are Free” (_Die Gedanken Sind Frei_), but I’m a fan of XTC’s “Dear God.”
And “(What If God Was) One of Us?” by Joan Osborne, if that counts.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/11 "2010-11-11T18:02:53Z")
It’ll be running through my head this Sunday as I watch football in my underpants.
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### Author:  [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/12 "2010-11-11T18:16:36Z")
Funny stuff.
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/13 "2010-11-11T18:18:03Z")
Y’all are kinda harsh - I thought it was kind of cute. I liked the part about lower-case h especially.
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/14 "2010-11-11T21:38:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> And “(What If God Was) One of Us?” by Joan Osborne, if that counts.
Or even Imagine?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/15 "2010-11-11T21:57:11Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#):
>
> That was funny in parts but pretty thinly so for how much song you had to get through to get to those parts.
>
> Here I thought the subject line was going to be serious. Certainly there have been songs proclaiming freethought and atheism. The traditional one is “Thoughts Are Free” (_Die Gedanken Sind Frei_), but I’m a fan of XTC’s “Dear God.”
\*\*Agnostic’s Prayer: \*\* (_Creatures of Light and Darkness_, Roger Zelazny)
Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/16 "2010-11-11T22:18:23Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> \*\*Agnostic’s Prayer: \*\* (_Creatures of Light and Darkness_, Roger Zelazny)
>
> Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.
I hope you transcribed this yourself. Because if a professional writer, with an editor I assume, twice used insure instead of ensure, I’m going to be disturbed, distressed, and dismayed.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/17 "2010-11-11T22:30:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> And “(What If God Was) One of Us?” by Joan Osborne, if that counts.
Original title “One of Us”, written by Eric Bazilian.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/18 "2010-11-11T22:40:06Z")
I never got the impression that “What if God was One of Us” was atheistic. Quite the contrary, it seems most consistent with the assumption that the writer _does_ believe in God.
Another one in the category, though, would be the old Communist song “Pie in the Sky”, which basically states that lying preachers promise us rewards in the next life, but that Communism promises rewards in this one.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/19 "2010-11-11T23:51:35Z")
:dubious:
You know that feeling when you’re watching something, and you keep waiting for it to get good, and it never does?
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### Author:  [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-first-atheist-hymn/560250/20 "2010-11-12T00:51:28Z")
Funny stuff! I’ve always loved Steve Martin’s stand-up and music.
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