The Rationalist Anthem

Here's an atheist song, written by a rapper named Baba Brinkman.



The animation is just absolutely beautiful. I want to watch it frame-by-frame, just to take in everything that's going on. I can't recommend this enough.


One of the things religion has going for it is the staggeringly immense body of cultural works that support it. Just think for a moment about how many Christmas songs there are, which are repackaged and resold every year. Then trace back 2,000 years of religiously-inspired or commissioned artwork.

I am in no way endorsing religion here by pointing out the ubiquity of its art: throughout history, it was prudent and economically sound for artists to create works with religious subject matter. Theology can also be an excellent source for inspiration or for allegory: who is not moved by the story of Prometheus stealing the sacred fire for humans, and suffering eternally for it? That doesn't mean we must sacrifice a bull to Zeus.

The point is: we atheists have a lot of catching up to do. Despite the not-inconsiderable body of atheist art (His Dark Materials comes immediately to mind), it is still vastly outstripped by religious work. That makes every atheist song or novel that much more important. Science has long been the province of atheism and rationalism: we must expand that scope to include art as well.