You’d think with all those Godless rockers out there I could think of more than 3. But as I pointed out to my husband, singing about sex and drugs and partying has nothing to do with religion and singing about Satan has everything to do with religion. Off the top of my head I’ve got: [ul][li]10,000 Maniac’s What I Am, just for this one line Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock, religion is a smile on a dog. []John Lennon’s Imagine. Imagine if there’s no religion. It’s easy if you try. . .[]Alanis Morrisette’s Forgiven. The whole song is pretty much a condemnation of religion, Catholicism in particular, but I think We all had delusions in our heads sums up this song’s take on religion.[/ul][/li]
I’m trying to think of songs that played on the radio and I’m drawing a blank. Any others?
XTC: Dear God
Doors …sanctaury. “You cannot petition the lord with prayer”. It could just mean that God has his phone off the hook though.
Don’t know how much radio play it got, but Randy Newman’s “That’s Why I Love Mankind” is a hilarious attack on the idea of a loving god.
“God,” by Tori Amos (“God, sometimes you just don’t come through/Do you need a woman to look after you?”) might qualify: certainly it’s not a song sung by a pious person.
Want more? I gotcher atheist music right here!
Daniel
Free Will - Rush
BTW, the song What I Am is by Edie Brickel and the New Bohemians. Maybe 10,000 Maniacs covered it; I wouldn’t know.
What do you mean ‘athiest’ music? Or is ‘anti-god’ or ‘anti-religion’ more what you’re looking for?
Nice one Daniel!
Some very funny stuff in there as well, “King Missile” is one of my personal favorites.
It’s got to be Everything You Know is Wrong by Weird Al Yankovich. The last verse is such a searing indictment of spiritual afterlife beliefs.
I didn’t think that line was intended atheistically. I always thought it was supposed to be a quote from some preacher, the gist of it being that the purpose of prayer is to praise/thank God, not to ask Him for favors. By extension, how could anyone believe that their petition could change the mind or affect the judgement of an omniscient being?
I’ve often wondered similarly about those of a religious bent who cite studies that purport to show the “power of prayer” – where hospitalized patients who were prayed for allegedly have better recovery rates than those who were not. I can understand interpreting these in terms of “psychic energy” or something of that sort (even if I don’t buy it myself), but its puzzling to me that someone would feel such results supported belief in a Christian God. Are we to believe that God’s mercy on a suffering person is influenced by their popularity? Does it mesh with the Christian concepts of charity and justice to think that God will show less mercy to someone suffering anonymously, than to someone with a strong support network?
[/hijack]
I actually mean “atheist” songs. Songs that cast doubt on the truth of religion.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: HYMN - THE ONLY WAY
People has stirred moved by the word.
Kneel at the shrine, deceived by the wine.
How was the earth conceived? Infinite space.
Is there such a place? You must believe in the human race.
Can you believe, God makes you breathe.
Why did he lose six million Jews.
…
<b>Man on the Moon - R.E.M.</b>
I have always understood this song to be a meditation on death from an atheist perspective.
<i>Here’s a little legend for the never-believer…
Here’s a little ghost for the offering…
Here’s a truck stop instead of St. Peter…
Mr. Andy Kaufman’s gone wrestling…</i>
I.e. (as I understand it): The singer doesn’t believe in heaven, so he’s offering a humorous alternative myth.
Well, now that we know that “Atheist” really mean “casting doubt on the truth of religion” 
I give you Indigo Girls – Deconstruction:
there’s a lot more too it there, more along the “agnostic” front than atheist, but by the above definition…
Also:
Who Will Save Your Soul? - Jewel
So we pray to as many different God’s as there are flowers
But we call religion our friend
We’re so worried about saving our souls
Afraid that God will take His toll
That we forget to begin
It was the best I could come up with between claims (must look busy for the Big Boss). Please, throw in your agnostic songs too!
Marilyn Mansun: lyric “God is just a statistic”
Although different interpretations abound, I think “Judith” by A Perfect Circle (new album in stores Sept 16!!) is pretty searing.
“Oh so many ways for me to show you how your savior has abandoned you”
“Pray to your Christ, to your god/Never taste of the fruit”
“Talk to Jesus Christ as if he knows the reasons why”
Lots of other good lines, and great music.
How about folk music? Utah Phillips has a hilarious version of “The Preacher And The Slave,” a Wobbly song from the early 1900’s. The Wobblies, of course, were anti-clerical anarchists, and they would often sing their own parody versions of the “revival” tunes that were popular at the time – in this case, “In The Sweet By-And-By.”
*The long-haired preachers come out every night
trying to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right
but if you ask them for something to eat
they will answer in voices so sweet:
“You will eat
by and by
in that glorious land in the sky
(way up high)
work and pray
live on hay
and you’ll get pie in the sky when you die.”
*Utah Phillips version:THAT’S A LIE!
I’ll offer All Things Dull and Ugly by Monty Python, an acidic parody of All Things Bright and Beautiful (the Christian hymn). It was originally released, I believe, on their Contractual Obligation Album, and can also be found on Monty Python Sings.
This song makes its point – that if God deserves all the credit, he also deserves all the blame – about as well as any serious effort ever has.