# Songs for Atheists
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 10, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778 "2003-09-10T15:50:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/1 "2003-09-10T15:50:09Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/2 "2003-09-10T15:56:55Z")
XTC: **Dear God**
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### Author:  [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/3 "2003-09-10T16:08:15Z")
Doors …sanctaury. “You cannot petition the lord with prayer”. It could just mean that God has his phone off the hook though.
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/4 "2003-09-10T16:11:10Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/5 "2003-09-10T16:32:03Z")
“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!](http://www.telemark.net/atheistmusic/toc.dbm)
Daniel
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### Author:  [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/6 "2003-09-10T16:36:30Z")
Free Will - Rush
> [@](#):
>
> You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
> If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
> You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
> I will choose a path that’s clear
> I will choose free will.
BTW, the song What I Am is by Edie Brickel and the New Bohemians. Maybe 10,000 Maniacs covered it; I wouldn’t know.
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/7 "2003-09-10T16:36:43Z")
What do you mean ‘athiest’ music? Or is ‘anti-god’ or ‘anti-religion’ more what you’re looking for?
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### Author:  [@dinoboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinoboy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/8 "2003-09-10T16:42:38Z")
Nice one Daniel!
Some very funny stuff in there as well, “King Missile” is one of my personal favorites.
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/9 "2003-09-10T17:09:46Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/10 "2003-09-10T17:24:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Rooves \*
> \*\*Doors …sanctaury. “You cannot petition the lord with prayer”. It could just mean that God has his phone off the hook though. \*\*
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]
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/11 "2003-09-10T17:32:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Eonwe \*
> \*\*What do you mean ‘athiest’ music? Or is ‘anti-god’ or ‘anti-religion’ more what you’re looking for? \*\*
I actually mean “atheist” songs. Songs that cast doubt on the truth of religion.
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### Author:  [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/12 "2003-09-10T19:34:19Z")
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.
…
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/13 "2003-09-10T19:46:20Z")
\Man on the Moon - R.E.M.\
I have always understood this song to be a meditation on death from an atheist perspective.
\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.e. (as I understand it): The singer doesn’t believe in heaven, so he’s offering a humorous alternative myth.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/14 "2003-09-10T19:47:38Z")
Well, now that we know that “Atheist” really mean “casting doubt on the truth of religion” 😉 I give you Indigo Girls – Deconstruction:
> [@](#):
>
> and as for the truth
> it seems like we just pick a theory
there’s a lot more too it there, more along the “agnostic” front than atheist, but by the above definition…
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/15 "2003-09-10T19:50:07Z")
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_
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/16 "2003-09-10T20:00:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ludovic \*
> \*\*Well, now that we know that “Atheist” really mean “casting doubt on the truth of religion” 😉
> \*\*
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!
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/17 "2003-09-10T20:07:56Z")
Marilyn Mansun: lyric “God is just a statistic”
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### Author:  [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/18 "2003-09-10T20:29:38Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@tclouie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tclouie)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/19 "2003-09-10T20:32:56Z")
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!_
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### Author:  [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-for-atheists/200778/20 "2003-09-10T20:59:15Z")
I’ll offer [_All Things Dull and Ugly_](http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/62639/Monty_Python/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.
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