Guest Smoothie Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Recently, I spoke to my brainwashed friend about my songwriting inability and without having me say anything else, he replied that "There's no artistic originality" and that god refuses to inspire those who do not believe in him or something along those lines... Now if I were a couple years younger I would be asking you for examples to prove him wrong. But I'm actually having doubts about this and cannot prove myself wrong... The only atheist, ORIGINAL artist I can think of is Tom Waits. If I actually I'm wrong then I really wouldn't care to pay the price. I'm not going to lie to myself so that I can get inspiration out of a fake. Can anyone please prove me wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Since I don't know which musicians are atheists and which are not, I can't offer you anything there. As far as god being a source of creativity, however, I'd call bullshit just on the face of the argument. Just for giggles though: Joe Heller, author of Catch 22, was one of the most innovative American writers that country has produced and he was a stone cold atheist. So is John Dolan, another fantastically creative writer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Recently, I spoke to my brainwashed friend about my songwriting inability and without having me say anything else, he replied that "There's no artistic originality" and that god refuses to inspire those who do not believe in him or something along those lines... Now if I were a couple years younger I would be asking you for examples to prove him wrong. But I'm actually having doubts about this and cannot prove myself wrong... The only atheist, ORIGINAL artist I can think of is Tom Waits. If I actually I'm wrong then I really wouldn't care to pay the price. I'm not going to lie to myself so that I can get inspiration out of a fake. Can anyone please prove me wrong? It would be easier to list all the great artists who claimed to get inspiration from god. Johnny Cash is about the only one I can think of, and he wasn't exactly a fundie. Dylan also dabbled with religion for awhile, but nearly all his great work was done as a non-believer. I guess Elvis and some of the early rockers were quasi-xtian, but again - not exactly hardcore believers. Throughout history, all the great artists, composers, writers, etc. were either non-believers or outright atheists. And that's just in the west - in the Asian world are tons of brilliant artists who never even heard of biblegod. Your friend is kidding himself - no great artist can be contained by religion, especially one as moronic and narrow-minded as xtianity. The whole point of art is to go beyond the confines, not to stay inside a box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxy Methoxy Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Recently, I spoke to my brainwashed friend about my songwriting inability and without having me say anything else, he replied that "There's no artistic originality" and that god refuses to inspire those who do not believe in him or something along those lines... Now if I were a couple years younger I would be asking you for examples to prove him wrong. But I'm actually having doubts about this and cannot prove myself wrong... The only atheist, ORIGINAL artist I can think of is Tom Waits. If I actually I'm wrong then I really wouldn't care to pay the price. I'm not going to lie to myself so that I can get inspiration out of a fake. Can anyone please prove me wrong? You should just kick a person who talks like that in the balls and go about the rest of your day. List of atheist artists I know of: John Lydon Dave Vanian Robert Smith Jello Biafra Debbie Harry Gary Numan Dave Matthews Shirley Manson Ani DeFranco Henry Rollins Eddie Vedder Michael Stipe Andy Partridge Brian Eno Roger Waters Doug Gilmore Matthew Sweet Billy Joel Bjork Trent Reznor Lemmy Kilminster Arthur Rubenstein Aldous Huxley Ernest Hemmingway Isaac Asimov Arthur C. Clarke Ayn Rand Francois Marie Arouet "Voltaire" Marquis de Sade George Bernard Shaw Pablo Picasso Percy Bysshe Shelley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightley Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 I don't think anything is original per se. Everything is recycled. Lots of people both religious and not are creative. I recently quit my job as a telemarketer on July 14, and what I learned from that experience is that there is a way to do things and do them successfully. So you can apply that philosophy to anything in life. Anyway, creativity is just like anything else, it takes practice to get good at something like writing or drawing. Maybe you excell in some areas better than others in the fine arts. Lyrics are very hard for me to write, poetry is much easier. I mostly focus on stories. But definitely don't give up if its what you like to do. But yeah creativity doesn't have anything to do with "enough faith in god" and shit like that. There's this artist Danny Gregory who I believe is an atheist, maybe his blog can help you out, his books have been pretty helpful to me. Best of luck on your endeavors. http://www.dannygregory.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 I haven't been able to confirm this, but I think Carl Orff was atheist. And you have to look long and hard to find anything more unique than his music. And most likely everyone have heard pieces from Carmina Burana some time in their life, and probably not even knowing it. a little taste: http://www.uky.edu/FineArts/Music/calendar...na%20Burana.mp3 I think the members of the Swedish Heavy Metal band Opeth are Atheists. I also suspect Jean Michel Jarre is atheist or agnostic, and the same for Ernest Dreyfus (artist, early 20'th century.) too. It's hard to find information about some of these peoples belief, because they weren't/aren't that open about it. (Maybe out of fear of persecution from the all so friendly religious fundamtalists.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willybilly30 Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 Marilyn Manson He's a member of the Church of Satan winch is pretty much Athiest I may be wrong. But even if I am wrong....wouldn't he be a weird example. There are so many bands out there who sing better tho Ac/dc,kiss,godsmack,drowning pool and others who I'm not sure are Athiest or not but they sure prove their talent didn't come from bible-god Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhampir Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 I don't think anything is original per se. Everything is recycled. Lots of people both religious and not are creative. Since humans cannot concieve of anything that doesn't in some form already exist, nothing is original according to this logic. Originality is basically the rareness of a concept or thing in a given area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnceConvinced Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 I think it's absurd to say that Christian artists are any more original than non-christian. Ridiculous assumption with no foundation. Funny the first thing I thought about when I saw the top post was that one of my earliest childhood memories was of my dad singing one of his favourite hymns or choruses. It was some scriptures to the tune of the Animals "House of the Rising sun." I didn't realise it was to the tune of a secular song until years later when I heard the original version on the radio. All I remember were some of the words... When we've been there 10 thousand years, bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise then when we first begun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 I think one is more likely to see majority-religion artists simply because they're using a familiar meme and are more likely to get picked up by publishers and patrons. And they tend to be much more numerous in the general population, hence more artists to become visible. But I suspect that the artists who hold minority points-of-view are much more likely to come up with the unusual stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightley Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 I don't think anything is original per se. Everything is recycled. Lots of people both religious and not are creative. Since humans cannot concieve of anything that doesn't in some form already exist, nothing is original according to this logic. Originality is basically the rareness of a concept or thing in a given area. good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fweethawt Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 You should just kick a person who talks like that in the balls and go about the rest of your day. List of atheist artists I know of: Dave Matthews I wish I could agree with this. And at one time, I would have. He does have a handful of songs pertaining to Jesus, God, the Devil and other biblical characters. The Christmas Song Bartender You Never Know American Baby (I can't think of any other ones off of the top of my head right now. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightley Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 Yeah another group called Live, is like that as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pseudovillain Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 I have a good reply... Most openly Christian musicians write shitty music, especially if it's about Gawd and Jeezus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narcissist Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 The Beatles were bigger than Jesus, you know. John Lennon - Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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