Philippine Atheists

“I remember when I was young/Feeling sick on Sunday morning,”

The first few words of the Bolshoi song Sunday Morning. From AllMusic:

“Sunday Morning,” like XTC’s “Dear God,” is a scathing attack on organized religion. However, Tanner’s target isn’t God; it’s going to church. “I remember when I was young/Feeling sick on Sunday morning,” Tanner reminisces. While it may seem blasphemous to some, “Sunday Morning” offers a realistic perspective; Tanner sounds like a bitter former altar boy, disillusioned by the façade of innocence of the people around him. Paul Clark’s moody, nostalgic piano paints the images described by Tanner’s words.

As a teenager, I listened to a lot of punk and newwave music. I am not going to dwell on the endless debate on what is, or is not newwave, a debate of religious proportion in itself if it’s of the Pinoy kind because like god, the term newwave is difficult to define. Any definition is sure to get some people disagreeing excitedly and which can easily start up a new round of insults and name-calling like “Your favorite newwave song is Buttercup!” and “You, Mickey-loving newwave poser!” are quick to fly into the air. And like religion, punk and newwave also had fanatics, and true believers - like myself. Both punk and newwave tackle a wide spectrum of issues - bigotry, politics, child abuse, the feminine movement, and emotions - alienation, angst, and depression, and a wide range of subjects - ignorance, anti-religion and atheism. For social commentary, the first groups that always come to my mind are Natalie Merchant and her group 10,000 Maniacs and the Australian group Midnight Oil. There was also one Christian newwave group that I enjoy listening to - the very passionate band, The Call. Somehow I think that having listened to both religious and anti-religious tunes helped me think about religion and faith and god on an almost daily basis *while* still being a believer, to be standing on the line that separates belief from disbelief. My personal favorite is Dear God by XTC:

Dear god,
Sorry to disturb you,
But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears,
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street,
cause they cant make opinions meet,
About god,
I cant believe in you.

Or take this fragment from the song Tomorrow Wendy by Concrete Blonde:

I told the priest, don’t count on any second coming
God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming!
He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us!
No, I don’t wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us?

During the late 80s, Depeche Mode released the single and music video of their popular song Personal Jesus which elicited a lot of condemnation for its supposedly “blasphemous” lyrics:

Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who’s there

Feeling unknown
And you’re all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I’ll make you a believer

But my favorite Depeche Mode song is the poignant Blasphemous Rumours:

I dont want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that god’s got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find him laughing

You can watch its video here.

When I finally found my atheism, it was exhilirating. The mixed emotions that I felt when I wrote in my college notebook, “I don’t believe in god” can be expressed in this opening lyrics of the song True Faith by New Order:

I feel so extraordinary
Something’s got a hold on me
I get this feeling I’m in motion
A sudden sense of liberty

That is exactly what I felt. A sudden sense of liberty. True freedom. My mind is free from the burden of trying to accomodate the contradictions and all the silly things that religions make us believe without question.
To end this, here is the first few lines of a very on-your-face song, IMO, and I think a lot will agree with me, the song that ushered in the brief but very influential era of punk music, Anarchy In The UK by the Sex Pistols:

“I am an anti-christ
I am an anarchist
Don’t know what I want
But I know how to get it”

(I am not an anarchist myself but) to the believers reading this, as the Pistols would say it: Get PISSED!

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