Dear God

Andy is a militant atheist. It's amazing how people see what they want want to, no matter how clear the message is. The idea that he must believe in god because it's addressed to god is just silly. It's a lyrical device...take a literature course. For those who refuse to see the song for what it is and how it was meant, here is a quote from Andy about the song:

"it [Dear God] failed in part, because it wasn't as caustic as I would've liked it to be. It should've been a nail in throat of the public, but instead some took it as a declaration of faith when I wanted to make it clear that I don't believe in God - and that even if there is a He or a She they have nothing to do with organized religion."

Just watch the video for Dear God. Andy is attacking the massive twisted tree (religion) that people are desperately clinging to, which is exactly what he is doing in the lyrics. I really don't see how he could be any clearer.

a few religious backers, which is fine.

I have a problem with zenwizard's point: "The letter writer acts like a spoiled kid and thinks God should fix mankind's screwups just like his mommy and daddy fixed all his."

I think it's a little much to chalk up someone's disappointment with hunger and war as 'whining'. Why would God make in inferior product that had to cope with such suffering?

If that's not a legit complaint, then nothing is.

I think that he does WANT to believe in god, thats why he adressess the letter do Him, but he just can't believe in God, because of such things the song tells us about. That's why he says "I can't believe in you". It's not irony, its just a state of disbelief.

For those of you trying to tear apart the logic in this song, try to remember that this is NOT a reasoned argument in favour of athiesm, it's an account of feelings and thoughts. Rather than "I don't believe in God because of [insert carefully reasoned argument here]", it's more of a case of "I can't believe in God because of this gut feeling I have". Taken as an argument, this song is very weak, and anyone could tear it apart in seconds - but then, the converse could be said about the Psalms, for instance. Their purpose is not to argue the existence of God - rather, it is to glorify the concept of God. Similarly, this song explains the belief of the write, rather than justifying it.

Imo its a pretty obvious statement about how the he (the songwriter) cant believe in god. Mostly because of all the suffering in the world, but also because god seems to be a creation of men and not the opposite.

As Whapcapn said, its not a strong argument, but an expression of feelings towards him.

Man people who say that the songwriter cannot compose a letter addressed to God unless he believes in God need to pay more attention in English class.

Obviously, the author is pointing out the age old "Argument from Unnecessary Pain and Suffering" against the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent god.

Ok, for the slow ones here, he's attacking the concept of God (xian one). The instrument is a vehicle. Understand the difference between something existing only as a concept and something existing in a physical (here super-natural) sense.

This forum is meant as a place to discuss the meanings behind songs. The name calling should go. The external "evidence" should go. I want to read about what people feel the song means, not about why the singer is wrong - not about why the lyrics are pointless, or contrary. We don't need to attack each other.

I liked UglinessMan's points, btw.

Okay, we can argue all day about whether God is real or not. Let's talk about the song.

Seems to me it's about the hypocricy of religion, as it pertains to an ultimate truth. He's taking the dogmatic statements of The Bible, and then comparing them against the hypocricies of man and nature. Why create disease? Why create starvation? If you are real, why allow men to fight and kill in your name? Where are you? It always seemed like a spirtual struggle, but hearing Andy Partridge quoted as saying that he should have made it more virulent, makes me revise my thoughts. I always felt it was about a man, speaking with his inner-child, asking pointed questions of God. "If you're there... answer me." If you created blue diamonds, tell me. If you exist, help Your creations to stop crying. We Beseech Thee, Here Us. He says, "If you're there, my heart's on my sleeve -- I'm BEGGING you -- let me know."

For those who are befuddled as to how anyone could possibly interpret this song differently from you or from what Andy intended, I would respectfully recommend you get out of English class and go take a psychology or NLP class. It's not any more complicated than the fact that everyone's mental map of the world is different, and no matter how "obvious" you try to make the message, there will always be others who process it differently from what you intended. This is not a bad thing at all, or even a good thing necessarily, it just is what it is.

The decision to address the song to God is a fantastic choice because it creates drama and tension. And, (unfortunately for the hardliners here) it leaves the song open to some interpretation. It's not a stretch for someone to look at the line "if you're up there you'll perceive, that my heart's here upon my sleeve", and read a sort of hopefulness in it that someone is hearing his message, even the doubt is strong. I always thought this song leaned strongly toward atheism, but at its core was more about doubt and frustration than it was about rigid disbelief. The fact that you could see a sliver of hope in the middle of all this unleashed anger was one of the more interesting things about this song.

Bottom line is, this song doesn't belong to Andy or any of us, it belongs to whoever is listening to it at the time. They will make it whatever they want it to be, and that's what art is all about.

I once saw Andy in an interview and he stated the band was atheist or atleast he was, listen to Smartest Monkeys he talks about Adam and Even not happening but anyways. I agree its not clear if the kid in the song does/does not beleive in god, but its easy to see he doubts god. Since Andy is atheist could this not be why he became an atheist, andy as young child. Either way i love the song, and its very true. It is why i became atheist. Not the song but the reasons he pints out, why i could see the kid being atheist.

I think this is easily one of the greatest songs out there. I just love the way it's written because it is all truthful. But one thing bothers me is that I would try to share the song with others and they wouldn't bother to listen to the lyrics. They would just rather hear the word God and then think it's a Christian song.

This song will remain a favorite of mine for a long time.