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The Here and Now (Intro)

from iTom 1​.​0: And So It Begins by Tom Smith

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There has been a lot of noise the past several years about religion, on many different fronts. What it seems to boil down to is, those who believe very devoutly can't abide the thought of the rest of the world not sharing their faith, or at least being subject to its rules, and those who do not believe can't abide the thought of having what they consider to be a superstition forced upon them.

I am in the latter camp. I was raised Lutheran, then Methodist (my lame joke about it is that I worship ways to kill Superman)... but I was a reader and a science-lover, and my Sunday School teacher could never explain why dinosaurs weren't in the Bible. A nine-year-old kid invoking carbon-14 dating really threw her off.

As I've grown older, I've gone through various degrees of hostility towards organized religion. Right now, I'm actually in a fairly benign phase, as long as no one mentions attempts to curtail reproductive rights because Jesus Loves Babies. But, awhile back, this song hit. Can't remember what particular news item set me off, probably something again about attempts to legislate "intelligent design" into science classrooms. But, when I started writing it, I almost immediately discarded the idea of being... well, mean about it all. So this is my attempt to explain politely -- as in, to my mother -- how I feel about the rational world vs. the existence of God, and more importantly how you don't need God to be a good person.

lyrics

Welcome, friends! Welcome once again to the
Atheist/Agnostic/Humanist/Realist
Olde-Time Down-Home Gospel Hour!
My friends, I am here to bring to you the GOOD NEWS!
The GOOD NEWS!
That this is a beautiful and dangerous and mysterious world we live in!
That there's a lot we don't know!
A lot we may NEVER know!
There may be a heaven!
There may be a hell!
There may be a devil!
There may be a GOD!
But there ain't no PROOF.

No hard-core science!
No Road Map of the Stars to the Pearly Gates!
No interview with Gabriel in Hot Archangels Monthly!
We've got to take it all on faith!
And that's a little difficult for some of us!
You hear about free will!
You hear about making your own choice!
And you'd like just a little bit o' proof.
And at some point, you realize there may not be no proof a-comin'.

And at that point, you realize
There may NOT be a heaven!
There may NOT be a hell!
There may NOT be a Devil!
There may NOT BE A GOD!
And you say to yourself, well, what am I doin' here?
If there ain't a god, what am I doin' here?
What is my purpose in life?
And I am here to tell you that your purpose in life
Is EXACTLY THE SAME either way!
If there's a God, your purpose is to LIVE!
To help people!
To make the world a better place!
And if there's NOT a God...
Your purpose is to LIVE!
To help people!
To make the world a better place!

Now, I know that some of you out there want there to be a God
for a very different reason.
Because you feel alone.
Because without God, it's a big, bad, scary, random universe out there.
Let me tell you right now,
it's a big, bad, scary, random universe out there WITH God!
Bad stuff happens.
Good stuff happens.
Stuff happens!
If it doesn't happen, you're DEAD!

But here's the important part:
You are not alone.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
You've got a family of SIX BILLION right here with you.
You think they don't know your troubles?
You think they don't know your heart?
They know yours as well as they know their own.
You think the world ain't a scary place for them?
It's a scary place for everybody!
But it's also a fantastically beautiful place!
And it's the only place we know for sure we've got.
So it is our DUTY, our PURPOSE IN LIFE, our REASON TO BE,
to make this the BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS!
Lemme tell ya!

credits

from iTom 1​.​0: And So It Begins, released October 26, 2006

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Tom Smith Ann Arbor

Weird Al with more books, JoCo with more jokes, Carlin with more Cthulhu. Since 1985, Tom Smith has been breaking hearts, minds, and laws of propriety and physics with his insane blend of sf/fantasy, Life With Computers, pop culture, politics, and puns. More than twenty albums later, he maintains the best is yet to come. ... more

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