Does she have any actual input in which verses are selected? They’re not changing the lyrics, just not playing the whole song. I don’t know if I’d put the blame at her feet.
Not exactly the same thing, as CCR absolutely had no rights to their own song, but Wrangler used “Fortunate Son” in a patriotic ad by skipping the “point the cannon at you” part. To their credit, they apparently stopped the ad after Fogerty complained.
Values is kind of weird, in that it’s founded by big Mormons, but the message isn’t explicitly proselytizing as far as I can see.
Iris DeMent I think is pretty religious, but “Let the Mystery Be” (aka the theme song to the Leftovers), is sort of an *agnostic *song.
I’m not sure if “Blasphemous Rumours” by Depeche Mode qualifies or not. In the refrain, the singer assumes that God exists, but the singer thinks He has a sick sense of humor and He will be laughing when the singer dies. The verses are about things that would make one lose their faith, or at very least think that God is more concerned with mocking humans who think He actually cares than actually caring about them. With such a negative portrayal of God, I assumed it to be rather atheistic, given it supposes things about God that are not consistent with most faiths.
Don’t hang on
Nothing lasts forever, but the earth and sky.
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy.
I’d call it a sort of serene nihilism.
As for the OP, Dear God is a good song, but it’s not really all that atheistic, for all the singer sings “I can’t believe in You”. It’s really more misotheistic.
Freewill dates from Neil Peart’s Ayn Rand phase, and is about rational egoism. The song takes shots at mysticism, religion, altruism/collectivism, etc. It’s about people who wield power through fear and blame, and class structurs maintained by telling people they cannot rise on their own, etc. The song says your future isn’t written. You have free will, so stop listening to those who tell you you are helpless without them. Make your own choices, based on reason instead of fear.
Kerry Livgren, the writer of the song who is now an evangelical Christain, did not see the song as being atheistic at all. Instead, it’s about the fleetingness of the material world and the shallowness of materialism. You can read this as atheistic, but you can also read it scripturally - ashes to ashes, dust to dust. What matters is not this fleeting material world, but the kingdom of heaven.
God is dead
And no one cares
If there is a Hell
I’ll see you there
Nine Inch Nails - “Heresy”
There is no God,
So clap your hands together,
There is no God,
No heaven and no hell.
But there is no God,
We’re all in this together,
There is no God,
So ring that victory bell.
Interesting. I adore Brickell, but I don’t think that’s at all an atheistic thought. Consider the later verse:
In both cases, she seems to be saying something about how philosophy is tricky, slippery, detailed, risky; religion is simple and joyful and hopeful. The song seems to reject intellectualism as a way of understanding the world.
I adore Brickell, but she and I don’t share a worldview.
They Might Be Giants have been criticized for pushing an atheist agenda by some Christians: