5. Religion for Atheists?

I was often told by well-meaning family and friends – steeped in a culture that propagated and encouraged obeisance to God – that I would be subjected to divine retribution for my heretical views. It was lost on them that the beauty of being an atheist is that things you don’t believe in cannot be feared. For, should the atheist be wrong and there was indeed an altruistic God, it would be quite rational tobelieve, that “it is very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt his existence.” (Russell)

When I raised the rather poor track record of religions, I would get responses such as , “You are right, religions have caused great harm. I actually just believe in a Supreme Power”, or more hilariously – “ I believe in a Supreme Consciousness”. Consciousness being a sufficiently vague term to defy definition and, therefore further discussion.

People like these often fall under the spell of astute manipulators of the human mind, attracted perhaps by the magnificent beards, impressive robes and splendid headgear of these assorted Bhagwans, Swamis, Babas, Gurus and Pastors. These charlatans attract thousands because they have artful ways of using the same playbook religions have used for hundreds of years, none of which have improved man’s behaviour to his fellow beings. Their secular credentials are deemed to give them legitimacy over old-fashioned religious credos, although all they are saying is, “believe in whatever faith you wish to – as long as your enrich my coffers and/or feed
my ego”.

An internet search of “religious” leaders convicted of crimes makes for fascinating reading and shows how little we are capable of understanding human gullibility and how desperate we are for faith.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_leaders_convicted_of_crimes

So, what is wrong with us? Why are we going around in circles with this?

Alan de Botton, the British philosopher made an interesting case for man’s leaning on religion as a manifestation of our need for community in his book, Religion for Atheists.

The idea of the book is that even if we believe that there is no God, perhaps religion can teach us wisdom without the doctrine. He goes on to describe with great eloquence how religion has contributed to making our lives better, in nine areas- Community, Kindness, Education, Tenderness, Pessimism, Perspective, Art, Architecture and Institutions.

Religion for Atheists.

Perhaps we can add a 10th to that list- Music.

All vocal music started as prayer- Jewish zemirots, Christian hymns, Hindu bhajans, Buddhist chants. Man’s belief in God and his need for religion found beautiful expression in music.

Without God or Religion , can music then unify us?

I spent most of my youth in Korea in the 1980s. Every Korean I knew seemed to know something about western classical music. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake were particular favourites. In a strange new land, alien to the culture and language, I found common ground with my Korean friends. I realised then that of all man’s inventions, including God, it is music that spontaneously allows us to seek a common humanity.

We are all the same, we want to take care of our parents, we want out children to be happy, we want to live well , we want to have conversations with great friends.

We want to love and be loved.

Music makes us see these simple truths. And makes us come together in a way nothing else does, as this flash mob delightfully demonstrates with Beethovans Ode to Joy.

Can we then have a secular prayer for atheists ?

This song written by David Foster in 1998 allows us to pray to no god in particular but provides us with the idea that music comforts us in perhaps the same way as going to a church or temple.