Nice Comment

Comment was by Loren Miller on May 26, 2022 at 7:54am

Es gibt keinen Gott und Dirac ist sein Prophet. (There is no God and Dirac is his Prophet.)
-- Wolfgang Pauli (of the Pauli Exclusion Principle)

{A remark made during the Fifth Solvay International Conference (October 1927), after a discussion of the religious views of various physicists, at which all the participants laughed, including Dirac, as quoted in Teil und das Ganze (1969), by Werner Heisenberg, p. 119; it is an ironic play on the Muslim statement of faith, the Shahada, often translated: 'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet.'}"

And I thought it was pretty cute!

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on May 25, 2022 at 4:27pm

So many of the hymns I sang in church and school I quite honestly did take in most of their lyrics, it's only now as an adult that I find them abhorrent. Can you imagine we actually sang these words from All things bright and beautiful-- The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

I didn't understand what I was singing as a child I do now and I despise the churches theological view that society is "ordered and upheld by Divine providence"

Comment was by Loren Miller on May 25, 2022 at 8:08am

One last word about Amazing Grace: I HATE the lyrics ... and I mean HATE. All the yap about "god's grace" and the utter dependency that it suggests humankind has to this deity-thing that can't be bothered to show itself. HOWEVER ... if someone's going to sing it, it should be sung like the following, with energy and verve and joy. Oh, and if you're wondering where it came from? Well, there is a "Maverick" other than the one Tom Cruise plays, and he rides a horse and not an F-18! Check it out:

Comment was by Loren Miller on May 25, 2022 at 6:51am

I've made this observation before, but I think it's on point: There are people who have elevated a THING in importance over ourselves and our lives. These people so value their guns that they want to prioritize their right to own such weapons over the right of others to live their lives without the fear of them. Because of this obsession, we are now reduced to more frequently living in fear of others superimposing their will, using those weapons either as means of intimidation or toward the end of Suicide By Cop.

Do we need to do more about the mental health issues which frequently give rise to the Sandy Hooks and Aurora Theaters and Columbines? Absolutely, but to stop there is to fail to recognize that the unrestricted and undisciplined availability of guns in the US is as much a part of the problem as those who are handling them.
-- me

And now, Uvalde, Texas, added to Buffalo, New York and too many other places. It is an undeniable fact that mass death as a result of gun violence has become a commonplace facet of American life, and it will continue to be so until and if we CHOOSE to care more about human beings than we do about guns.

Comment was by Onyango M on May 25, 2022 at 1:58am

Joan, you and I together. I enjoy Andre Rieu's redention of nearer to thee my god and some other such songs. The melody is almost sublime.

Comment was by Joan Denoo on May 24, 2022 at 11:30pm

OK! I strongly agree that I am not a wretch, even as I confess that I am a musical illiterate. I don't particularly care for music, except when it catches and holds my attention, e.g. 

'Amazing Grace' touches me in a deep place. I think it is the feeling of community, of belonging that is the hook.

'Hallelujah.' It is the harmony of those singers that excite me. They sing religious songs, and MY GOODNESS, they ring my chines. It is not their words but their sounds that emote emotion in me.  

I agree. I, too, hate 'Onward Christian Soldiers' while I enjoy humming the melody's rhythm.

So, why am I humming such sounds? Can I find feelings of belonging, emotional harmony, and rhythm in secular music? 

Possible hummers: 

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole:  'Over The Rainbow,' 

Louis Armstrong: 'What A Wonderful World,'

Wuauquikuna: 'The Sound Of Silence.' 

Comment was by Loren Miller on May 24, 2022 at 5:17pm

Joan, I so associate the melody line with the lyrics as regards those songs that disassociation for me would be next to impossible.  I'd far rather someone created a NEW melody line along with a new secular lyric.

Comment was by Joan Denoo on May 24, 2022 at 3:21pm

Loren, thanks; I like "Atheists don't have no songs."

Comment was by Joan Denoo on May 24, 2022 at 3:18pm

Loren, you missed my point, I disagree with the lyrics of these songs and find them repugnant, as I know you do. I love the melodies and find myself humming them throughout the day. 

I've looked for tunes I can hum with lively and inspiring themes. Can you suggest a couple?

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on May 24, 2022 at 2:51pm

I doubt the average American Christian knows of that quote by Jefferson because they always argue that the founding fathers were all Christian. Thanks Loren

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