Me and this girl I know used to be friends until she found out I wasn't an atheist, she stopped talking to me. We used to have long talks on the phone and on Facebook about all kinds of stuff. But that's fucked, if she cut me out of her life just because I'm not an atheist.

Boru

This thread went to dark places. I think nonreligious people are generally smarter than theists and I care a lot more what the few smart, informed people think than the masses on any given subject. With that said, I don't put a lot of weight into other people's opinions of me.

For what it's worth, I don't think any of the great musical artists of modern history were atheists.

(July 3, 2025 at 9:05 pm)Ahriman Wrote: For what it's worth, I don't think any of the great musical artists of modern history were atheists.

FTFY

For what it's worth, I don't think.

(July 3, 2025 at 9:05 pm)Ahriman Wrote: For what it's worth, I don't think any of the great musical artists of modern history were atheists.

Rush comes to mind. Whether or not you like them is another story.

I personally don't listen to music and wonder if the composer believes or doesn't. I listen to the songs that resonate with me, no matter their religious or areligious approach.

(July 3, 2025 at 10:18 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(July 3, 2025 at 9:05 pm)Ahriman Wrote: For what it's worth, I don't think any of the great musical artists of modern history were atheists.

Rush comes to mind. Whether or not you like them is another story.

I personally don't listen to music and wonder if the composer believes or doesn't. I listen to the songs that resonate with me, no matter their religious or areligious approach.

Do you like Gregorian chants?

(July 3, 2025 at 10:30 pm)Ahriman Wrote:

(July 3, 2025 at 10:18 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Rush comes to mind. Whether or not you like them is another story.

I personally don't listen to music and wonder if the composer believes or doesn't. I listen to the songs that resonate with me, no matter their religious or areligious approach.

Do you like Gregorian chants?

I do, mostly. I also like -- nay, love -- "Carry On Wayward Son" from Kansas, which is a song written by their guitarist Kerry Livgren as he was processing his conversion from secular to born-again. Though where his journey led him is not a place I'd go ever again, I love that he deals with it in an honest and questioning approach. I respect that, and the song touches me, because I've made that journey albeit in the other direction. There's a sense of doubt and searching in that song that lays at the heart of its meaning that I lived for a few years for myself before I lost all faith at all.

It's still a great song, for all those reasons.

I also love Bach, who was inspired by his faith to write absolutely fantastic music in service to his church.

(July 3, 2025 at 10:30 pm)Ahriman Wrote:

(July 3, 2025 at 10:18 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Rush comes to mind. Whether or not you like them is another story.

I personally don't listen to music and wonder if the composer believes or doesn't. I listen to the songs that resonate with me, no matter their religious or areligious approach.

Do you like Gregorian chants?

You think those were "great musical artists of modern history"? As the name hints, Gregorian chant originated a millennium ago. Modern atheist composers include Brian Eno, Wagner, Strauss, Ravel, Shostakovich, Janacek, Nikolai Rimsksky-Korsakov, Frank Zappa, Bob Geldof, most of Pink Floyd, and Billy Joel.

(July 3, 2025 at 11:52 pm)Paleophyte Wrote:

(July 3, 2025 at 10:30 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Do you like Gregorian chants?

You think those were "great musical artists of modern history"? As the name hints, Gregorian chant originated a millennium ago. Modern atheist composers include Brian Eno, Wagner, Strauss, Ravel, Shostakovich, Janacek, Nikolai Rimsksky-Korsakov, Frank Zappa, Bob Geldof, most of Pink Floyd, and Billy Joel.

Frank Zappa! How might I have forgotten him?! Dude was fuckin' brilliant, not only iconoclastic about religion, but about music in general: