# Religious songs that even an atheist can enjoy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045 "2008-04-19T21:22:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/41 "2008-04-20T10:50:28Z")
Ooh, ooh! I love the album Diamanda Galas recorded with versions of gospel songs, \*The Singer. \* She brings a whole new dimension to the music and lyrics - her \*Let My People Go \* chills me to the bone. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/42 "2008-04-20T11:32:08Z")
_Jerusalem_ is a fine hymn by Blake with a beautiful tune by Parry. Though as an atheist I am convinced that when I’m dead and gone I shall know nothing about it, if it makes my friends and relatives happy to play something I love, this is what I’d like them to play at my secular funeral. > [@](#): > > And did those feet in ancient time > Walk upon England’s mountain green? > And was the holy Lamb of God > On England’s pleasant pastures seen? > > And did the countenance divine > Shine forth upon these clouded hills? > And was Jerusalem builded here > Among those dark satanic mills? > > Bring me my bow of burning gold! > Bring me my arrows of desire! > Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! > Bring me my chariot of fire! > > I will not cease from mental fight, > Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, > 'Till we have built Jerusalem > In England’s green and pleasant land. It has huge significance to me as a critical patriot - but not a nationalist. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/43 "2008-04-20T11:43:55Z")
**jjimm** , my gratitude is boundless. Those last two stanzas, I have _memorized,_ and didn’t know where they came from. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!! ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/44 "2008-04-20T11:44:07Z")
I came in here to post Jerusalem. Damn you, **jjimm**! ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/45 "2008-04-20T11:53:56Z")
Wasn’t there a story recently about a bishop who wants to ban _Jerusalem_ from churches because he doesn’t regard it as a hymn? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/46 "2008-04-20T12:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=Jennyrosity] I came in here to post Jerusalem. Damn you, **jjimm**! [/QUOTE] We can share! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/47 "2008-04-20T13:01:29Z")
I’m an only child - I don’t share! Well alright then - if I must. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/48 "2008-04-20T15:47:38Z")
[Dear God](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk41Gbjljfo) by XTC. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/49 "2008-04-20T16:02:59Z")
Not songs, exactly, but **Ian Anderson** ’s _Divinities: 12 Dances with God_ is pretty good - I especially like the “Catholic” one, _In A Maternal Grace_. ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/50 "2008-04-20T16:20:49Z")
Christopher Tin’s **Baba Yetu** , the title track on Civ IV. It’s the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/51 "2008-04-20T17:43:49Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] _Jerusalem_ is a fine hymn by Blake with a beautiful tune by Parry. Though as an atheist I am convinced that when I’m dead and gone I shall know nothing about it, if it makes my friends and relatives happy to play something I love, this is what I’d like them to play at my secular funeral. > [@](#): > > And did those feet in ancient time > Walk upon England’s mountain green? > And was the holy Lamb of God > On England’s pleasant pastures seen? > > And did the countenance divine > Shine forth upon these clouded hills? > And was Jerusalem builded here > Among those dark satanic mills? > > Bring me my bow of burning gold! > Bring me my arrows of desire! > Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! > Bring me my chariot of fire! > > I will not cease from mental fight, > Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, > 'Till we have built Jerusalem > In England’s green and pleasant land. It has huge significance to me as a critical patriot - but not a nationalist. [/QUOTE] As an American, I only learned this song when Emerson Lake & Palmer opened **Brain Salad Surgery** with it. I assume that’s not the version you want played? **Sampiro** , it was definitely Rick Wakeman playing on **Morning Has Broken**. I don’t know if it was his arrangement though. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/52 "2008-04-20T17:59:22Z")
[QUOTE=The Them] _Pachelbel’s Canon,_ any version, but **Trans-Siberian Orchestra** is the best, IMHO. [/QUOTE] Just remember: You can’t mention Pachelbel’s Canon arund here without a reference to the [Pachelbel Rant.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM) It’s a rule, or something. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/53 "2008-04-20T20:14:13Z")
If you like country music, I’d nominate Josh Turner’s _Long Black Train_. It’s rather Johnny Cash-like. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/54 "2008-04-21T00:19:25Z")
So many songs by Van Morrison. Some of them should be sung in church, in my opinion, but I think they won’t because he’s on the wrong record label. Seriously, that’s what it comes down to. If he’d released them on “Christian albums”, they might have been adopted, but instead he’s hardly even known. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/55 "2008-04-21T00:54:06Z")
[“Love is Stronger Than Death”](http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/T/thethelyrics/thetheloveisstrongerthandeathlyrics.htm) by \*\*The The \*\* [Matt Johnson]. No references to gods or angels, heaven or hell, but it’s an affirmation of faith in some kind of unspecified afterlife or resurrection. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/56 "2008-04-21T00:57:31Z")
[QUOTE=The Scrivener] [“Love is Stronger Than Death”](http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/T/thethelyrics/thetheloveisstrongerthandeathlyrics.htm) by \*\*The The \*\* [Matt Johnson]. No references to gods or angels, heaven or hell, but it’s an affirmation of faith in some kind of unspecified afterlife or resurrection. [/QUOTE] More direct is The The’s cover of Hank Williams’ [“I Saw the Light”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCn2GSkKKT4). ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/57 "2008-04-21T02:03:17Z")
Pretty much anything by The Blind Boys of Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/58 "2008-04-21T12:00:46Z")
God almost certainly doesn’t exist, but I still like Handel’s Messiah (plus My Sweet Lord, Johnny Cash and a bunch of gospelly Elvis/soul numbers). ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/59 "2008-04-21T13:17:14Z")
I am the kind of person who swears to her child that Santa is real but God and Jesus are just a story and yet I have _How Great Thou Art_ by Elvis saved on my Sirius Sportster. Even though I can practically hear the casserole ladies of my youth, with their wavery sopranos, wailing away over at the East Burke Congo I still love it. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045/60 "2008-04-21T13:50:49Z")
When I was an atheist long ago, I had an aversion to almost everything religious including music. But even back then, I would find myself mesmerized whenever I was near the local AME Zion church. The beauty and the power of that choir singing old negro spirituals blasted through their almost always open doors and just left me in awe. Even an atheist can get caught up in the foot stomping and hand clapping of those great old melodies and harmonies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-songs-that-even-an-atheist-can-enjoy/446045.md?page=4)