Steve Martin’s Atheist Gospel Song
Nov.11, 2010 by
in
Funny
We found this over at the Huffington Post and had to pass it on. From the HP:
One of the stops on that tour was the venerable live music program Austin City Limits, and Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, a vocal quartet, performed an original composition. Lamenting that religious people have the best music, they decry the fact that nonreligious people are left in the proverbial dust when it comes to music proclaiming their beliefs. Check out the performance of “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs” below.
Enjoy!
November 11th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Fun.
Thanks for sharing.
November 11th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Some of the atheists at HuffPo were angry in the comments that Martin (an agnostic himself) \misrepresented\ atheism. They oddly went on to argue that atheism isn’t a belief system at all, but merely a lack of beliefs. They were very defensive toward those who said atheists believe God doesn’t exist (because then they have to defend that proposition, which is very difficult to do) using cliches like atheism being a religion like bald being a hair color.
So let me get this straight:
1. Atheism consists of no positive beliefs, but only a lack of beliefs.
2. This non-existent \lack\ has enough coherence to be named \atheism.\
3. Atheism (which I remind you has no ontological value since it is merely a \lack\) can affect other views about reality such as beliefs about the foundation of logic, morality, basis of empirical reality, et. al. such that they argue positively toward accepting this worldview in the comment section at HuffPo.
4. This ontological lack can be misrepresented by a comedic song.
5. Yet even though this worldview can be misrepresented, affects other basic beliefs about reality and provides a basis to critique other metaphysical positions, it doesn’t have to be defended because it amounts to nothing more than a lack of beliefs…
Am I the only one who finds this position to be both incoherent and self-contradictory?
November 12th, 2010 at 7:24 am
G. Kyle – Relax dude! It’s a lighthearted ditty. I don’t think Steve is starting an Atheist Church.
November 12th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Greg,
Apparently you didn’t read my comment before responding to it. I found the video to be really funny. My comment had nothing to do with the video or anything about Steve Martin starting an atheist church. Reading the comment would make that clear.
My comment was responding to the commenters at HuffPo who took the video seriously and were offended that it misrepresented their worldview, but then refused to define their worldview as anything more than a lack. It just seems inconsistent.