Music for Atheists

First I'll explain the title. I recently downloaded a fantastic album called Music for Spaceports by an artist called MrVoletron. Along with a number of highly amusing techno songs using voice clips from World of Warcraft, it seems that MrVoletron also plays Eve Online, and wanted to create his own music for spaceports. It's a wonderful album of ambient music, and for $5 and the chance to support an independent artist so he can keep amusing me with Warcraft Remixes (Still waiting for that Bonestorm remix, sir), I couldn't resist.


At any rate, this post is aimed at the presence of various deities in music, and the cynicism or lack there of that comes with it.



I actively listen to music (not just having it on in the background while I play nerdy video games) a lot more than I've done in recent years now that I have a full time job. In the midst of morning traffic (approximately 15 minutes) and afternoon traffic (approximately 30 minutes thanks to the assholes at city planning blocking up my main avenue of travel from now until JULY!), and my lunch hour usually spent at my desk not answering calls and reading various online blogs or browsing craigslist. During two, and sometimes all three, of these daily activities, I have my IPod out and music a-going. In the morning on the way to work, I usually listen to the morning show on the local rock station. The Morning Sickness is actually a fairly amusing show, even if the main dude is infuriatingly chauvinistic sometimes. However, sometimes on my way to work, and always on my lunch break and my way home, I'm looking to listen to good, hard music to help me work out the frustrations of my day. And I have a new recent favorite.



Maynard, the musical genius behind Tool and A Perfect Circle, has a lesser known side project called Puscifer (get it?). Though I don't worship every song Puscifer has put out, most of which are on my IPod, there are several that I do, in fact, absolutely adore.



So, you might be asking yourself, What does this have to do with Atheism? Well, here it is. There are several songs that I enjoy, not necessarily by Maynard (there are many others) that either make negative references to christianity or other sorts of references that are so much negative as they are unsavory.


The most blatant example of these is Judith by A Perfect Circle. With a line like "Fuck your God, your Lord, your Christ," it's pretty obvious why. However the song that really put this blog post in mind is a song by Puscifer called Rev 22:20, which I absolutely adore. Not only is it one of the sexiest songs I've heard in a long time (Maynard's voice does special things to me), but it uses some of the best euphemisms (or perhaps it's just an innuendo, or maybe a double entendre) that I've ever heard. Namely, "I know Christ is coming, but so am I," and "Jesus is risen, and it's no surprise." Since the entire song is basically about sex, the meaning of these statements is clear. There's also the lovely aspect that the album cover of Don't Shoot the Messenger is a 'don't shoot me' type of illustration of the stereotypical Jesus Christ.



Now I have no idea what religion Maynard attaches himself to, if he even does, but as an atheist, these lyrics elicit a grin every time I hear them.


What this all boils down to is an insecurity I'm having about my integrity. There is a part of me that feels that I should be above finding a sort of cynical enjoyment that I get from hearing these songs; and then there's the part of me that gets the enjoyment. I usually go through life in a self assured air of maturity, but with these songs, I feel like, if only for 4 minutes and 42 seconds, I'm not the mature Atheist I thought myself to be.

The most distrusted person in America

I thought about calling this blog 'Atheists Eat Babies', but I wasn't sure everyone would get the joke. I guess I'll just consider that as my unofficial title. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I suppose this is just my way dealing with things, instead of yelling at the TV. Hopefully I'll be able to refrain from simply ranting, and present my thoughts in a fashion that holds true to the logic and rationalism on which my atheism depends.

Often times as an atheist in our, well, let me be frank here, very Christian society, sometimes it does indeed feel like everyone prays but me. Maybe I shouldn't say Christian society. Certainly, the majority of Americans are Christian, but an even bigger majority are simply religious. I've been more and more aware of being part of this minority lately. Perhaps I'm simply becoming more confident in my atheism, perhaps my armor of apathy is getting old and worn out. Whatever the reasons, I've decided to put my feelings, discussions, arguments, and maybe the occasional rant into this electronic medium.

'Why distrusted.blogspot.com?' you might be asking yourself. Well I heard an interesting statement recently. According to some polls done in the not-to-distant past, somewhere around 2006, atheists are the most distrusted people in America. The thought had never really occurred to me before. I'm a fairly trusting person. I've never really thought about whom I trust the least... If I had thought of it before hand, I might have guessed that Americans distrusted Arabs the least, or maybe a less racial and more religious answer might be Muslims. Don't get me wrong, I distrust neither Arabs nor Muslims. Perhaps I have a low opinion of my fellow countrymen, but with issues such as racial profiling, 9-11, the war on terror, et cetera, either one might be a plausible answer. Similarly, it could have been gays and lesbians at the bottom of the list, considering the hot issue of gay marriage. Once again, do not misread me here. I am certainly not prejudiced against anyone due to sexual orientation, but again, this might have been a plausible answer.

However, it turns out that atheists are the least trusted out of all Americans. Most Americans don't want us atheists marrying their children, running for office, or doing, well, just about anything that affects them.

I most certainly would have ended up in at least one of the categories on the list of distrusted Americans. Indeed, I find myself on that list more than once. But what's coming in 4th or 5th most distrusted for any other issue compared to being the most distrusted for being an atheist.

I've decided to take on this moniker with a certain amount of dignity, perhaps even pride. I've never been the best at anything, nor the 'most -adjective-' of anything. Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy being the most distrusted person in America.

Sources:
American Sociological Association