I've been a Rush fan for over 3 decades now. I really like the comments that ClosetRush made and will say I somewhat echo his sentiment except that I'm just a regular married guy with a kid, not at all a person of the cloth or anything, just a firm believer of God. And from my angle, no-one forces me to go to church or believe in God. In fact my wife doesn't go to church but is a firm believer in God. I would say I'm not a big fan of organized religion in general but I go to church to thank God for all I've been blessed with from time to time.
The thing that I will say is that I can't judge Neil, I haven't walked in his shoes. I have no idea how I would react, feel or lash out if my son and wife were taken from me. I'm sure I would be devastated. Knowing how my life has gone though, I tend to include God more in my life when the chips are down.
All this aside, I really like the album but I really hate being preached at. In fact when someone jams their faith down my throat it turns me off. Conversely, when someone tells me I'm an idiot for believing in God, it tends to turn me off just as much. I'm turned off by the lyrics on this album unfortunately. I love the bass line, the guitar work and the percussion is amazing again as always. I wish Pye Dubois (from Max Webster songs, Kim Mitchell and the writer of Tom Sawyer) would write the song lyrics for Rush though. I appreciate Neil's lyrics more when he's not trying to convince me God doesn't exist. We're all big boys and girls, let us decide on our own.
One thing I will say, Neil knows the bible much better than I ever will. If you go to his website, constant bible references. To me, this doesn't make sense. I like to think of myself as open minded but if I didn't believe in God, I wouldn't spend a minute of my time reading the bible. For example, I don't believe in socialism, I've taken classes on it in college to understand it and it pretty much reinforced my initial take. So why would I cozy up to the Communist Manifesto and make references to it in my work everyday, my writings, my website, my blog, etc.?
It's like one of those crappy TV evangelists that screams from the top of his lungs about God and the proper way to believe in God, how to interpret the bible, live your life according to God and then later he's in bed with a hooker or stealing money from the congregation, etc.
Feel free to disagree, I'm open minded (I think) and opinions vary. Caravan is my favorite song on the album though, just can't get enough of it, and BU2B (musically) is fantastic as well, lyrics are just too much for my taste though.
You seem to miss the point of this song - because it isn't against any god at all, its against the preaching and indoctrination of young people who haven't had the option to make their own decisions yet.. and imposing the types of morales and philosophies on them that compel them to just comply, and not really ask any of the difficult questions in life but just accept whatever they're fed.
You seem to miss the point of this song - because it isn't against any god at all, its against the preaching and indoctrination of young people who haven't had the option to make their own decisions yet.. and imposing the types of morales and philosophies on them that compel them to just comply, and not really ask any of the difficult questions in life but just accept whatever they're fed.
Almost every atheist I know - and I know dozens, being one myself - knows the bible. Some read it before they left christianity, some want to 'know the enemy', and others read it to understand what drives (usually) sane people to believe in these weird stories.
Almost every atheist I know - and I know dozens, being one myself - knows the bible. Some read it before they left christianity, some want to 'know the enemy', and others read it to understand what drives (usually) sane people to believe in these weird stories.
And regarding 'the jamming their faith down your throat': that's what happens to us almost every day. Comparing Peart to one of your TV evangelists proves your lack of open-mindedness.
And regarding 'the jamming their faith down your throat': that's what happens to us almost every day. Comparing Peart to one of your TV evangelists proves your lack of open-mindedness.
Sorry, but the days of quiet atheists are over. And with the freedom to communicate ideas more easily than ever (via the Internet), I'm sure more and more people will wake up to the notion that gods were never real to begin with, and the power and influence of the religious will continue to diminish.
Sorry, but the days of quiet atheists are over. And with the freedom to communicate ideas more easily than ever (via the Internet), I'm sure more and more people will wake up to the notion that gods were never real to begin with, and the power and influence of the religious will continue to diminish.
I've been a Rush fan for over 3 decades now. I really like the comments that ClosetRush made and will say I somewhat echo his sentiment except that I'm just a regular married guy with a kid, not at all a person of the cloth or anything, just a firm believer of God. And from my angle, no-one forces me to go to church or believe in God. In fact my wife doesn't go to church but is a firm believer in God. I would say I'm not a big fan of organized religion in general but I go to church to thank God for all I've been blessed with from time to time.
The thing that I will say is that I can't judge Neil, I haven't walked in his shoes. I have no idea how I would react, feel or lash out if my son and wife were taken from me. I'm sure I would be devastated. Knowing how my life has gone though, I tend to include God more in my life when the chips are down.
All this aside, I really like the album but I really hate being preached at. In fact when someone jams their faith down my throat it turns me off. Conversely, when someone tells me I'm an idiot for believing in God, it tends to turn me off just as much. I'm turned off by the lyrics on this album unfortunately. I love the bass line, the guitar work and the percussion is amazing again as always. I wish Pye Dubois (from Max Webster songs, Kim Mitchell and the writer of Tom Sawyer) would write the song lyrics for Rush though. I appreciate Neil's lyrics more when he's not trying to convince me God doesn't exist. We're all big boys and girls, let us decide on our own.
One thing I will say, Neil knows the bible much better than I ever will. If you go to his website, constant bible references. To me, this doesn't make sense. I like to think of myself as open minded but if I didn't believe in God, I wouldn't spend a minute of my time reading the bible. For example, I don't believe in socialism, I've taken classes on it in college to understand it and it pretty much reinforced my initial take. So why would I cozy up to the Communist Manifesto and make references to it in my work everyday, my writings, my website, my blog, etc.?
It's like one of those crappy TV evangelists that screams from the top of his lungs about God and the proper way to believe in God, how to interpret the bible, live your life according to God and then later he's in bed with a hooker or stealing money from the congregation, etc.
Feel free to disagree, I'm open minded (I think) and opinions vary. Caravan is my favorite song on the album though, just can't get enough of it, and BU2B (musically) is fantastic as well, lyrics are just too much for my taste though.
You seem to miss the point of this song - because it isn't against any god at all, its against the preaching and indoctrination of young people who haven't had the option to make their own decisions yet.. and imposing the types of morales and philosophies on them that compel them to just comply, and not really ask any of the difficult questions in life but just accept whatever they're fed.
You seem to miss the point of this song - because it isn't against any god at all, its against the preaching and indoctrination of young people who haven't had the option to make their own decisions yet.. and imposing the types of morales and philosophies on them that compel them to just comply, and not really ask any of the difficult questions in life but just accept whatever they're fed.
Almost every atheist I know - and I know dozens, being one myself - knows the bible. Some read it before they left christianity, some want to 'know the enemy', and others read it to understand what drives (usually) sane people to believe in these weird stories.
Almost every atheist I know - and I know dozens, being one myself - knows the bible. Some read it before they left christianity, some want to 'know the enemy', and others read it to understand what drives (usually) sane people to believe in these weird stories.
And regarding 'the jamming their faith down your throat': that's what happens to us almost every day. Comparing Peart to one of your TV evangelists proves your lack of open-mindedness.
And regarding 'the jamming their faith down your throat': that's what happens to us almost every day. Comparing Peart to one of your TV evangelists proves your lack of open-mindedness.
Sorry, but the days of quiet atheists are over. And with the freedom to communicate ideas more easily than ever (via the Internet), I'm sure more and more people will wake up to the notion that gods were never real to begin with, and the power and influence of the religious will continue to diminish.
Sorry, but the days of quiet atheists are over. And with the freedom to communicate ideas more easily than ever (via the Internet), I'm sure more and more people will wake up to the notion that gods were never real to begin with, and the power and influence of the religious will continue to diminish.