What makes an atheist love religious music? [View all]
By Jason Heller
Dec 20, 2013 12AM
Years ago a cute girl walked into the record store where I worked. That was not remarkable. What was remarkable was this: She started talking to me. Not only that, but when I rang her up, she asked me out. This sort of thing simply did not happen to me. I was giddy. She suggested we go to a punk show that some of her friends were playing that weekend. I couldnt say yes fast enough. We exchanged numbers, and she said shed pick me up Friday night. If Id been a religious person, I would have thanked God for the stroke of good luck.
As it turned out, God did not deserve my thanks. After we arrived at the venue that Friday, an odd feeling crept over me. Why was a punk show being held in a well-lit unit of a suburban office park? Why were there so many parents hanging around? And why the hell was someone serving slices of cake? When my date led me deeper into the venue, it all became clear. Against the nearest wall leaned a smiling teenager with a foot-high Mohawk and a T-shirt that proudly proclaimed, JESUS WAS A PUNK.
Being suckered into attending a Christian-punk show isnt the lamest thing Ive ever had to endurebut its close. As far as Im concerned, such a thing is reverse blasphemy. I am not agnostic, undecided, or otherwise straddling the fence about the existence of God; I am an atheist. I also came of age in the punk scene, and one of the first things you figure out is that God and punk mix about as well as funk and metal. Sure, there are Christian punk bands. But why listen to peppy crap like MxPx when you can crank up Amebixs scathing No Gods No Masters or Dayglo Abortions snotty Im My Own God?
In addition to being an atheist, I am a hypocrite. I love religious music. For as long as Ive been a serious music listener, Ive been drawn to all kinds of devotional artists and songsjust not Christian punk, with which I have a personal beef that may or may not have been aggravated by a certain young woman and a certain bad date. My first dilemma came when I was 15. A huge fan of The Smiths, Id gotten into a vaguely similar band called The Housemartins. Jangly and chirpy in that 80s-British kind of way, The Housemartins are remembered mostly because the groups singer, Paul Heaton, went on to form the far more successful outfit The Beautiful Southand its bassist, Norman Cook, took up DJing and became Fatboy Slim. But The Housemartins did have one chart-topping hit in England: the 1986 Christmas single Caravan Of Love.
http://www.avclub.com/article/what-makes-an-atheist-love-religious-music-200686
More songs at link.