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Atheists & Agnostics
In reply to the discussion: Favorite Athiest and/or Agnostic Song? [View all]deucemagnet
(4,549 posts)21. "Dear God" is my favorite,
but I like the message in pretty much everything by Bad Religion.
From their Wiki page:
Religion
Faith in your partner, your fellow men, your friends, is very important, because without it there's no mutual component to your relationship, and relationships are important. So, faith plays an important role, but faith in people you don't know, faith in religious or political leaders or even people on stages, people who are popular in the public eye, you shouldn't have faith in those people. You should listen to what they have to say and use it.
Greg Graffin[78]
Despite the name of the band, or the band's logo, the members do not consider themselves antitheist. Singer Greg Graffin states that more often than not, the band prefers to use religion as a metaphor for anything that does not allow for an individual's freedom to think or express themselves as they choose. In this way, their songs are more about anti-conformity than anti-religion.[79] Contrary to popular belief, Greg Graffin does not identify himself as an atheist, but chooses to identify as a naturalist.
Wired Magazine came out with a big exposé of "the new atheists". I was interviewed for itand yet I think I was included as a sidebar but not as a main feature and I think the main reason they did that was because they noticed that I wasn't that happy billing myself as an atheist. To me it just doesn't say that much; it doesn't say much about you. Instead I bill myself as a naturalist, which I think says a lot more. Because a naturalist is someone who... first of allthey study natural science, and they have a hopeful messageI thinkto send to the world, which is... we can agree on what the truth is... and it has to be through experimentation, verification, and new discoveries, followed by more verification. So... if we can agree on those terms, we can agree that the truth changes, based on new discoveries, and the structure of science is such that you can never be so sure of something, because a new discovery can rework the frameworkit can reconstruct the framework of your science and you have to look at the world differently. That makes it a very dynamic and exciting place to be. And if you say "you're an atheist", it's not really saying much about how you came to that conclusion. But if you say "you're a naturalist", I think it says something. You've reached that point because you've studied science, because you believe there's a fundamental way of looking at the world that is part of a long tradition. And so, I prefer naturalist.
Greg Graffin[80]
Despite this, he did co-author the book Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?, which is based on a series of lengthy debates about science and religion between Graffin and historian Preston Jones.[81] In 2010, Graffin released Anarchy Evolution, in which he promotes his naturalist worldview.[82]
The band's bassist Jay Bentley has stated that he has spiritual beliefs.[83] Brett Gurewitz is a "provisional deist."
On March 24, 2012 Bad Religion headlined the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., sharing the stage with the likes of Eddie Izzard, Richard Dawkins, Tim Minchin and James Randi.[84]
Faith in your partner, your fellow men, your friends, is very important, because without it there's no mutual component to your relationship, and relationships are important. So, faith plays an important role, but faith in people you don't know, faith in religious or political leaders or even people on stages, people who are popular in the public eye, you shouldn't have faith in those people. You should listen to what they have to say and use it.
Greg Graffin[78]
Despite the name of the band, or the band's logo, the members do not consider themselves antitheist. Singer Greg Graffin states that more often than not, the band prefers to use religion as a metaphor for anything that does not allow for an individual's freedom to think or express themselves as they choose. In this way, their songs are more about anti-conformity than anti-religion.[79] Contrary to popular belief, Greg Graffin does not identify himself as an atheist, but chooses to identify as a naturalist.
Wired Magazine came out with a big exposé of "the new atheists". I was interviewed for itand yet I think I was included as a sidebar but not as a main feature and I think the main reason they did that was because they noticed that I wasn't that happy billing myself as an atheist. To me it just doesn't say that much; it doesn't say much about you. Instead I bill myself as a naturalist, which I think says a lot more. Because a naturalist is someone who... first of allthey study natural science, and they have a hopeful messageI thinkto send to the world, which is... we can agree on what the truth is... and it has to be through experimentation, verification, and new discoveries, followed by more verification. So... if we can agree on those terms, we can agree that the truth changes, based on new discoveries, and the structure of science is such that you can never be so sure of something, because a new discovery can rework the frameworkit can reconstruct the framework of your science and you have to look at the world differently. That makes it a very dynamic and exciting place to be. And if you say "you're an atheist", it's not really saying much about how you came to that conclusion. But if you say "you're a naturalist", I think it says something. You've reached that point because you've studied science, because you believe there's a fundamental way of looking at the world that is part of a long tradition. And so, I prefer naturalist.
Greg Graffin[80]
Despite this, he did co-author the book Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?, which is based on a series of lengthy debates about science and religion between Graffin and historian Preston Jones.[81] In 2010, Graffin released Anarchy Evolution, in which he promotes his naturalist worldview.[82]
The band's bassist Jay Bentley has stated that he has spiritual beliefs.[83] Brett Gurewitz is a "provisional deist."
On March 24, 2012 Bad Religion headlined the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., sharing the stage with the likes of Eddie Izzard, Richard Dawkins, Tim Minchin and James Randi.[84]
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