The remarks Callahan made that this song followed a realisation he had after reading Atheist literature is pretty damn telling.
"damning the children,
making the ill just a little more sick"
I believe there is another interview where he remarks how he realised the effect of religion through history has basically been bad.
It seems an inanely wall-eyed account of religion, one which only really makes sense to me by taking into account atheist literature, I think, because its analysis is absolutely negative.
The void/question lines are a bit more interesting.
Perhaps I am being too literal - or perhaps I am simply wrong; I do find myself doubting my understanding of this song since it just seems so unusually banal for BC.
Compare with the subtly in previous Callahan lyrics:
"all we need is here on earth, every other day"
"God is a word and the argument ends there"
Whereas, here, he treats religion like a childish toy, but this is because the account of it hereis childish and superficial. And this is a 9 minute epic which keeps banging on. Awful; in my humble opinion anyway.
I'm not arguing that Callahan has to embrace religion (Christianity particularly) but that if he is going to dismiss it he ought to do so with his trade-mark humour, subtlety and finesse.
[hopefully I will not anger anyone; if you think my account of the song is superficial, please critique it]
I should just add an actual interpretation of this song.
I should just add an actual interpretation of this song.
It's time to put God away (God is a toy I (or we) no longer need.)
It's time to put God away (God is a toy I (or we) no longer need.)
Damnin' the children (making the children suffer because they are "sinners" etc.)
Makin' the ill just a little more sick ("religion poisons everything"; there was a piece of research, Dawkin's I think, where those people who were very ill who did not pray for God to save em, actually had more difficulty recovering/were more likely to die -- due to complex reasons).
Damnin' the children (making the children suffer because they are "sinners" etc.)
Makin' the ill just a little more sick ("religion poisons everything"; there was a piece of research, Dawkin's I think, where those people who were very ill who did not pray for God to save em, actually had more difficulty recovering/were more likely to die -- due to complex reasons).
This is the end of faith, no...
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie (Callahan draws a line between "spiritually/religion" and the agnostic sublimity and awe of existence.)
A void without a question is just perverse (a void is amazing, doesn't shouldn't it make you wonder? No, hierarchical religions make the void a certainty, they desecrate it -- I'm not confident about this interpretation - since it is not analogous with the following line).
Like tear gas misters at my grave (if you only do something because you're forced it doesn't really count (those who do good deeds so they'll go to heaven?))
It's time to put God away (an imperative for us all to ditch our childish fantasy)
(I put God away) (Callahan's own resolution)
-- Not all the lines here are what I have referred to above as superficial.
dammit, I meant to say above that in the cherry-picked scientific research, those (and their relatives) who DID pray to God had more difficulty recovering, than those who did not.
dammit, I meant to say above that in the cherry-picked scientific research, those (and their relatives) who DID pray to God had more difficulty recovering, than those who did not.
I tend to agree that it seems almost overly anti-religious. Almost like there's something we're not getting. Thinking about what he's trying to conjure up with the image of him having tear gas misters at his own grave leaves me a bit baffled but still curious..
I tend to agree that it seems almost overly anti-religious. Almost like there's something we're not getting. Thinking about what he's trying to conjure up with the image of him having tear gas misters at his own grave leaves me a bit baffled but still curious..
The remarks Callahan made that this song followed a realisation he had after reading Atheist literature is pretty damn telling.
"damning the children, making the ill just a little more sick"
I believe there is another interview where he remarks how he realised the effect of religion through history has basically been bad.
It seems an inanely wall-eyed account of religion, one which only really makes sense to me by taking into account atheist literature, I think, because its analysis is absolutely negative.
The void/question lines are a bit more interesting.
Perhaps I am being too literal - or perhaps I am simply wrong; I do find myself doubting my understanding of this song since it just seems so unusually banal for BC.
Compare with the subtly in previous Callahan lyrics:
"all we need is here on earth, every other day"
"God is a word and the argument ends there"
Whereas, here, he treats religion like a childish toy, but this is because the account of it hereis childish and superficial. And this is a 9 minute epic which keeps banging on. Awful; in my humble opinion anyway.
I'm not arguing that Callahan has to embrace religion (Christianity particularly) but that if he is going to dismiss it he ought to do so with his trade-mark humour, subtlety and finesse.
[hopefully I will not anger anyone; if you think my account of the song is superficial, please critique it]
I should just add an actual interpretation of this song.
I should just add an actual interpretation of this song.
It's time to put God away (God is a toy I (or we) no longer need.)
It's time to put God away (God is a toy I (or we) no longer need.)
Damnin' the children (making the children suffer because they are "sinners" etc.) Makin' the ill just a little more sick ("religion poisons everything"; there was a piece of research, Dawkin's I think, where those people who were very ill who did not pray for God to save em, actually had more difficulty recovering/were more likely to die -- due to complex reasons).
Damnin' the children (making the children suffer because they are "sinners" etc.) Makin' the ill just a little more sick ("religion poisons everything"; there was a piece of research, Dawkin's I think, where those people who were very ill who did not pray for God to save em, actually had more difficulty recovering/were more likely to die -- due to complex reasons).
This is the end of faith, no...
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie (Callahan draws a line between "spiritually/religion" and the agnostic sublimity and awe of existence.)
A void without a question is just perverse (a void is amazing, doesn't shouldn't it make you wonder? No, hierarchical religions make the void a certainty, they desecrate it -- I'm not confident about this interpretation - since it is not analogous with the following line). Like tear gas misters at my grave (if you only do something because you're forced it doesn't really count (those who do good deeds so they'll go to heaven?))
It's time to put God away (an imperative for us all to ditch our childish fantasy) (I put God away) (Callahan's own resolution)
-- Not all the lines here are what I have referred to above as superficial.
dammit, I meant to say above that in the cherry-picked scientific research, those (and their relatives) who DID pray to God had more difficulty recovering, than those who did not.
dammit, I meant to say above that in the cherry-picked scientific research, those (and their relatives) who DID pray to God had more difficulty recovering, than those who did not.
I tend to agree that it seems almost overly anti-religious. Almost like there's something we're not getting. Thinking about what he's trying to conjure up with the image of him having tear gas misters at his own grave leaves me a bit baffled but still curious..
I tend to agree that it seems almost overly anti-religious. Almost like there's something we're not getting. Thinking about what he's trying to conjure up with the image of him having tear gas misters at his own grave leaves me a bit baffled but still curious..