In a 2000 interview, the American writer Robert Anton Wilson told me the best thing that could happen in the Mideast was “an outbreak of atheism.” Hard not to disagree, certainly then - and especially now.
That said, it’s worthwhile to remember the 20th century’s greatest genocides were perpetrated by two atheists: Stalin in the Soviet Union (20 million) and Mao Zedong in China (45 million). Through the rubber trade, King Leopold II presided over an estimated 10 million deaths in The Belgian Congo.
Hitler, not a churchgoer, tied with Stalin.
That aside, I can’t say I’m much of a fan of religious literalism. If you believe a snake literally once spoke to a woman created out of some dude’s rib, you’re welcome to your weltanschauung. But a proviso: it’s no simple matter when it comes to assessing the pluses and minuses of religious faith.
For example, would the Baptist reverend Martin Luther King Jr. have taken the chances he did in leading the civil rights movement in the US, ending with his assassination, without his belief in a traditional God? Would the Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi had done similarly in sacrificing himself for India without his own faith?
I know what you’re saying. “Yeah, but what about the Inquisition, Olson? What about the Holy Wars against heathen and infidels alike? What about the rape of the New World? What about what is happening right now in the Mideast??
I’m sorry, you appear to be looking for an argument. This is contradiction. Argument is down the hall.
Time for some music…
Father John Misty, “Pure Comedy”
“And how's this for irony, their idea of being free is a prison of beliefs / That they never ever have to leave.” The inventively poetic and desperately dark title track from Father John Misty’s 2017 album.
Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”
In an interview, Kate Bush once explained the meaning of of her biggest hit.
“I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman, can’t understand each other because we are a man and woman. And if we could actually swap each other’s roles, if we could actually be in each other’s place for a while, I think we’d both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would be led to a greater understanding. And really the only way I could think it could be done was either … you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. And I thought, ‘Well, no, why not a deal with God!’ You know, because in a way it’s so much more powerful, the whole idea of asking God to make a deal with you.”
Neville Brothers, “With God On Our Side”
“The First World War, boys / It came and it went / The reason for fighting / I never did get / But I learned to accept it / Accept it with pride / For you don't count the dead / When God's on your side.” Bob Dylan’s songs often sound better when covered by other artists. Here the Neville Brothers perform one of Dylan’s better early inventions, back when the folk singer favoured uncomfortable truths over cryptic wordplay.
“With God On Our Side” name-checks numerous dark historical events, including the slaughter of aboriginal Americans in the nineteenth century, the Spanish–American War, the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, The Holocaust, the Cold War, The Vietnam War and the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot. Good times.
Nick Cave, “Into My Arms”
“I don't believe in an interventionist God / But I know, darling, that you do. / But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him / Not to intervene when it came to you.” Official video for a beautiful ballad by the goth Australian singer, which followed the collapse of a long-term relationship and his subsequent relationship and break-up with English musician PJ Harvey.
Cave has said he came up with the tune while in rehab: "I was actually walking back from church through the fields, and the tune came into my head, and when I got back to the facility I sat down at the cranky old piano and wrote the melody and chords, then went up to the dormitory, sat on my bed and wrote those lyrics."
Thank God for tough break-ups. Without ‘em there wouldn’t be near as much memorable music. From one of Cave’s best albums, The Boatman’s Call in 1997.
Talking Heads, “Listening Wind”
“Mojique Buys Equipment In The Market Place / Mojique Plants Devices Through The Free Trade Zone / He Feels The Wind Is Lifting Up His People / He Calls The Wind To Guide Him On His Mission.” In Islam, the wind is interpreted as one of Allah’s signs. Talking Heads leader David Byrne doesn’t explain exactly what Mojique is up to, but it certainly doesn’t sound good. From the band’s great 1980 album, Remain In Light
Graham Parker, “Syphilis & Religion”
A catchy little number about conquistadors, clerics and pre-capitalists in the New World “handin’ out syphilis & religion, two things you could probably do without.”
Robbie Robertson, “Ghost Dance”
“You can kill my body /You can damn my soul /For not believing in your God / And some world down below.” Enormous tragedy underlies this song by the former singer-songwriter of The Band.
The Ghost Dance was a cross-tribal 19th century ceremony by American aboriginals calling upon the spirit world to end their genocide. According to Wikipedia, leaders believed “proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits to fight on their behalf, end American Westward expansion, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Native American peoples throughout the region.” Needless to say, it didn’t work on this plane…or that plain.
RIP, Robbie Robertson.
Mick Jagger, “God Gave Me Everything”
I don’t think this is a terrible rock n’ roll tune, musically or lyrically. It’s just that the message, “God gave me everything,” doesn’t come off right coming from massively wealthy and entitled rock star. Maybe a touch of irony next time, Mick?
The madly gesticulating Jagger bounces around like an electrocuted chicken in a supermarket, laundromat, nightclub, church and even a meat locker, as he lip-synchs to a track from his 2001 solo album, Goddess in the Doorway.
Pure comedy, indeed. Yet it does indeed seem God gave the Stones singer everything. He moves in mysterious ways… right? God, I mean.
Sinead O’Connor, “Take Off Your Shoes”
“If you believed at all in your breviary / If you believed even in just the ghost of me / You wouldn't now be so surprised to see me / In vanity you took the name of me.” Sinead described this 2012 song as how she imagined “The Holy Spirit would address the Vatican.” The Catholic-raised Irish singer believed in God, but not in His so-called representatives on Earth, the clergy and leaders who spent many years concealing testimony of sexual abuse of minors within the church.
I recall witnessing one of the most powerful acts of 20th century protest back in 1993, when the singer went off-script on Saturday Night Live and tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on camera. She was made to pay for this brave act many times over.
RIP, beautiful soul.
BONUS SONG
Muungano National Choir, “Kyrie”
Whatever you think about faith and religion, it’s given us some tremendous music, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Blind Willie Johnson to Van Morrison and beyond. Below is Kenya’s Muungano National Choir's rendering of a Catholic song of prayer. According to Wikipedia, The Kyrie is traditionally the first sung prayer of the Mass. The repeated phrase, “Kyrie, eleison,” translates as “Lord, have mercy.”
From the Muungano National Choir’s website:
The style is a cappella, using the most abundant of musical instruments (the voice) with drum, Kayamba, (reed rattle) and occasional triangle accompaniment. The songs, like a lot of Africa's contemporary arts have sprung from a fusion of the rich and varied rhythmic and melodic traditional and neo-traditional African tunes with exuberant and intense quasi-western harmonic style.
God gave me everything too; the Starsky and Hutch car in that video for a start, then the meaning behind an old Mr Mister song that I'd always loved but had never looked too deeply into, and I think you know what I mean by that. Always appreciate your choices; from Kate to Sinead, and everything in between.
Gravity is the weak force but love and prayer, manifest through different mediums, is the strong force. "you don't stand a chance against my prayers." Maybe this is the ultimate secret of the universe.