Here’s Vienna Teng singing “The Atheist Christmas Carol”:
Here are the lyrics:
It’s the season of grace coming out of the void
Where a man is saved by a voice in the distance
It’s the season of possible miracle cures
Where hope is currency and death is not the last unknown
Where time begins to fade
And age is welcome homeIt’s the season of eyes meeting over the noise
And holding fast with sharp realization
It’s the season of cold making warmth a divine intervention
You are safe here you know nowDon’t forget
Don’t forget I love
I love
I love youIt’s the season of scars and of wounds in the heart
Of feeling the full weight of our burdens
It’s the season of bowing our heads in the wind
And knowing we are not alone in fear
Not alone in the dark
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14 Comments
Very pretty! I dont see whats so atheistic about it tho.
That’s one of its virtues. As with the vast majority of the wealth of great atheist artworks and writings, etc., the references to gods are just absent and not even conspicuously since they were superfluous to begin with. In replacing traditions like carols the ideal is to make it as though there was no religion to have to replace, since there is no need for atheism to be reactive forever.
Beautiful voice and song!
The lyrics/music are meh, but she has a truly lovely voice…
Hey Siberia, greetings, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you sir, all the very best.
The lyrics seem quite spritual and not humanist at all, in my opinion. It could be considered atheistic relative to any major religion since it omits the usual references but it seems no more in the spirit of humanism that religious songs.
Thanks JC, you too! But I’m a girl ;)
Sorry…errh Ma’am! :)
Very, er, Christian!
Can someone go sing it to Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society, please? :D
It is a very moving and touching song.
Thank you.
Love the song!!!!
Beautiful voice. Lovely song.
I just heard this song for the first time recently and in reading the lyrics, it doesn’t sound atheistic at all. She actually sings about divine intervention “And knowing we are not alone in fear
Not alone in the dark”.
Does anyone know anything more about Ms. Teng to know if she actually is atheist or not?
Even the first line mentions “grace coming out of the void”. This sounds to me like a “realization” for atheists that there is something more out there. Just my take.
I love Vienna, and I’m pretty sure she’s an atheist. Her first album is littered with allusions to non-belief (a song called Doubt, a line in another one referring to “the god upstairs that I never could believe.”) She also has a phenomenal song called “Mission Street,” which I interpret as being the story of someone who is emerging from behind the “veil” of cult-thinking (realizing at the end that “it seems the more I’m wrong, the more that I am right.”)
I love Atheist Christmas Carol song because I think it’s an atheist’s attempt to explain why the season of christmas has a deep meaning to her, even if she rejects the traditional myth-based meaning. The “we are not alone in the dark,” I believe refers to human beings. We reach out to one another sometimes and embrace our common bonds of humanity. People often do that more at christmas. It’s something like Tim Minchin’s white wine in the sun, but not as funny and more poetic.
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[...] singer is Vienna Teng, the album is Warm Strangers, the heads up as to its existence is owed to Daniel Florien at Unreasonable Faith (who also helpfully provides the [...]