Whether or not you believe in God, you should live your life with love, kindness, compassion, mercy and tolerance while trying to make the world a better place. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will have made a positive impact on those around you. If there is a benevolent God reviewing your life, you will be judged on your actions and not just on your ability to blindly believe in creeds- when there is a significant lack of evidence on how to define God or if he/she even exists.
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so
very poor
No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine
tests
No one's laughing at God when it's gotten real late and their kid's
not back from that party yet
No one laughs at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably
shake
No one's laughing at God when they see the one they love hand in
hand with someone else and they hope that they're mistaken
No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door and they say
"We've got some bad new, sir,"
No one's laughing at God when there's a famine, fire or flood
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke
or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head
you think that they're about to choke
God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they've lost all they got and they
don't know what for
No one laughs at God on the day they realize that the last sight
they'll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one's laughing at God when they're saying their goodbyes
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke
or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head
you think that they're about to choke
God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God in a hospital
No one's laughing at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so
very poor
No one's laughing at God
No one's laughing at God
No one's laughing at God
We're all laughing with God
What do you think?
My first reaction to this song was simple anger, but I know that
one of the faults of my personality is that I'm quick to take
offense. One of my friends pointed out that she believes the song
is not speaking out against atheists, but against hypocritical
people who only believe in God when it is convenient to them, like
the celebrity who "finds Jesus" while in prison and gets a
decreased sentence.
However, that reading seems like a simplification to me. First of
all, the song (which is somber and serious in tone) seems to
support the same sentiment behind the saying "There are no atheists
in foxholes." In other words, it suggests that it's easy to be an
atheist/agnostic when things are running along smoothly, but as
soon as the going gets tough, everyone turns to God,
regardless of their prior convictions.
In the last part of the song, it also seems to support the idea
that the God who get's mocked (by atheists?) isn't an accurate
depiction of God, but a simplified fictional wish-granting granpa
with a big white beard who lives in the clouds. This is an attack
often leveled against Dawkins/Hitchens/Harris etc., that they only
"believe" in these dumbed-down versions of God that no sensible
religious person actually believes in. In other words, it's easy to
be an atheist if you only think of God like a genie or Jiminy
Cricket. It's easy to laugh at that sort of God, but not easy to
laugh at the real idea God supported by actual theology.
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughs and reactions. Am I
jumping to conclusions? Being too sensitive? Or does this song
really seem to contain anti-atheist sentiments?
Funny, it did not offend me, I heard it as generally pro-God, not
anti-atheist. But I am so eager to separate myself from
conservative Christianity that I don't find myself upset by
general theism just now, my bias.
But if I was informed that Spektor is a conservative Christian, I
would be offended by it, because I would feel she was
mis-defining me. That's what can be offensive, that the
lyrics presume to know what other people think, which is a huge
part of what is offensive about Christianity. So maybe I should
be more offended! I probably suspend judgement, not really
knowing what she thinks.
Plus, she's wrong, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonegut come to mind. At
least they laughed at God after the war, and could speak
from first-hand experience.
I find the song rather trivial, despite obviously trying hard to be
controversal. I mean, people tend not to laugh while in war or in
the hospital, so what does God really have to do with anything?
Quite frankly, I haven't met anyone who laughs at God anyway.
Christians, generally speaking, are quite humourless when it comes
to their faith and atheists, well, can't laugh at something they
don't believe exists. They may laugh at people who believe in God,
but that is quite another subject altogether. Just seems like a
silly song to me.
I agree, Brad. No one laughs at anything during serious situations.
After thinking about the song a bit more, I concluded that it might
be best to swap the word "God" for "belief in God." In that sense,
religion and unreligious alike laugh at belief in God when that
belief takes the form of a televangelist or Fred Phelps, but
neither parties laugh at those who have believe in God during
serious and difficults times. As atheists, we might talk about how
misguided Christians are, call them deluded, or whatever else, but
none of us is going to begrude a Christian their belief in God when
they are laying in the hospital dying of cancer. We know that their
belief provides them a very serious comfort.
I'm a Regina Spektor fan, but I don't know enough about her
religious beliefs to guess what she's trying to say in this song.
She's Jewish and makes references to both Jewish and Christian
traditions in her songs, but I dunno if she's practicing. A
Google search of "regina spektor religion" brings you her latest
interview, where she says that she just thinks a lot about
religion.*
Personally, I didn't think it was an anti-atheist song. I thought
that it put forward different ways of thinking about God in
general. The "crazies" she refers to, I took to mean people like
those at Westboro Baptist.
Actually, I get an idea of God that's quite sinister at the end.
I like the idea that God can take a joke and laugh at it, that
he's someone who can laugh with you, have fun with you. But what
if he MAKES the joke and laughs at it, and the joke is you, your
life, and the tragedies you experience? The only laughing with
you could do would be hollow. So, I actually find the song's tone
sad and sarcastic about laughing with God, and sympathetic to
human beings in general.
* On a lighter note, someone on WikiAnswers punctuated the "no"
answer to "Is Regina Spektor a Christian?" with a sad face. I'm
not sad; are you? :p
James McGrath just linked to a post about this video
HERE on his blog Exploring Our Matrix. He writes:
"It
seems to hit the balance just about right between God/religion as
something that provides comfort and hope, and God/religion as
something that seems deserving of mockery."
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