Atheists Options

[Badman]

If Atheists are supposed to be a very tiny fraction of the population, then why do we seem to have the majority on the board? Is there something about this music that attracts people who lack the faith to believe? Is it just an internet thing?

[Wambangalang]

heaps of people say they're a believer, perhaps out of respect to their family or tradition, when in fact they are pretty much athiest. Many of my mother's die-hard catholic friends would be mortified if i ever admitted my non-belief, but my friends pretty much know how i feel.

best example is barack obama

[Senghe]

Badman, Ed's only just seemingly decided what faith he is and that's only going off his recent songs and waffling about the bible in an interview or two. That's put a good portion of people here off him. Therefore it seems that the last thing that either attracted us to Live/Ed's music or it's potential to give us some road to Damascus conversion is the Christian message.

The things I always loved about Live before V was:
1) The passion and energy the whole band put into the music both lyrically and sonically.
2) Ed sounding like he was bleeding his heart's blood down your ear. I didn't necessarily believe in what he was singing about, but I believed he believed in the stories he weaved us and that's what counted. From V onwards I always felt Live had been eviscerated, no matter how hard I tried to like and defend them. I miss the burningly impassioned and sometimes angry Ed.
So generally, nothing at all to do with his religious leanings.

Most Western countries are decidedly secular. The majority of their inhabitants don't believe in the imaginary friends of their ancestors, but they pay lip service out of duty like Wambangalang has already stated. On the internet nobody knows who you are so you can tell the truth without hurting your loved ones feelings. Most people only see the inside of a church for christenings, weddings and funerals, but it's still ingrained into everyday things. I remember once filling in a form for some health tests I was having done and the nurse reading them out and filling them in. One question was was what my religion was. I was about 15 and stated clearly that I was an atheist and my mum, who's not got a religious bone in her body blurted out angrily "No you're not, you're Church Of England!". I just gave her a filthy look and said atheist again. The poor nurse didn't know what to do.

This post has been edited by Senghe: Dec 23 2009, 5:54 am

[Sakhmet2]

Agnostic or atheist? A lot of people have some sort of belief system, but no official religion. (This might be Chad T).

[Badman]

Most Western countries are decidedly secular. The majority of their inhabitants don't believe in the imaginary friends of their ancestors, but they pay lip service out of duty like Wambangalang has already stated. On the internet nobody knows who you are so you can tell the truth without hurting your loved ones feelings. Most people only see the inside of a church for christenings, weddings and funerals, but it's still ingrained into everyday things.

America is far different... we don't pay lip service, we empty our wallets to those who sell that drama! You may really have something with the internet anonymity thing though. To get a true picture of this, I'd have to divide American fans and overseas fans.

I dare to say Atheists may come to appreciate Live for being passionate at a religious level. When he was up there wailing, spitting, screaming, and ranting we got something that "normal" people get from preachers. This is ironic because TC ed railed against preachers and teachers.

[Merica]

I liked the angst and emotion invested in a search for what was and is... all seemed very spiritual to me, existentialism and humanist and just.... all stuff that was kind of based around the people themselves holding the power within them.

I dunno.

[Sakhmet2]

America is far different... we don't pay lip service, we empty our wallets to those who sell that drama!

I'm sure a lot of Americans pay lip service too. In fact, I know it, because I have a lot of American friends. It's human nature.