I am an Atheist. I still love 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Godspell'

[Taverner]

If Christianity were true to itself, it would accept these portrayals as valid Passion Plays

[ixion]

1. JC Superstar is one of my all-time favorite musicals...but I'm not at all religious

so I can relate.

[Taverner]

3. Both have some awesome musical numbers

And I freakin' HATE musicals!

[bananas]

18. "And I freakin' HATE musicals!" + 10,000 nt

[bananas]

17. +1000 nt

[no_hypocrisy]

2. There are some catchy songs in both shows. Singing along doesn't

mean you're going to convert . . . .

[bananas]

19. + ?0,000! nt

[elleng]

4. Me too; music-loving agnostic here.

[Taverner]

5. Ian Gillian and Murray Head! What's not to like?

:)

[bananas]

20. Murray Head: +100,000! nt

[PETRUS]

6. About that true to itself thing...

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." -Chesterton

One can be a believer or an unbeliever and see some truth in that.

[Taverner]

7. Yesh. And GK Chesterton was a beleiver.

I can enjoy the by-products of Christianity while not believing!

[Taverner]

11. Ah-yes!

[Warpy]

8. I wasn't nuts about either of those

and I lit roadshows so there was ample opportunity for them to grow on me. They just didn't.

Now, the kickass gospel program on college radio here on Sunday morning is something else. I used to listen to it on the way home from work and I'll tune in if I'm up early.

[Taverner]

9. I'm an atheist - so - so I am not really for "the real Jesus"

[onager]

10. I like this myself, as a Fundamentalist Atheist...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56LNciQaabw

I like it because I don't have to hear the dour lyrics in English. And I've always thought parts of this song applied to the atheist experience as well as the Xian.

The lead singer is a Cajun woman named Eleisha Eagle. She has a website.

Oh, this is from the soundtrack of the movie "Little Chenier." Two weeks after the movie wrapped, Hurricane Katrina wiped the town of Little Chenier off the map.

[edhopper]

12. Love both of them.

Without Tim Rice, Webber was just a good tune smith, but his musicals alone never had the same weight.
Godspell is great fun.
I can enjoy Peter Pan without believing in Faries, Finnegan's Rainbow without believing in Leprechauns, or Carousel without believing we polish stars after we die.
It's musical theater, and one give's oneself over to the conceit.

[Deep13]

13. I still love Beethoven's 9th symphony with its religious lyrics...

...and Handal's Messiah.

I saw Ted Neely in in the '90s in JCS and I have a photo of him and my wife.

[Taverner]

14. Beethoven was a Socialist Democrat! Most people don't know that...

His only opera reinforced this...

[Deep13]

21. I knew he was pretty anti-establishment...

...but the words to the chorus of the 9th (which he did not write) are religious.

[Taverner]

22. Lots of religious people were socialist back then

Republican Revisionism has made Jesus into a Conservative

[kwassa]

15. Carl Anderson would occasionally sing front and center for this church choir I was in

He was Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar, the original film production, and had toured in recent years with Neeley in revivals.

Carl had an amazing voice, the best I have ever heard live and up close. He unfortunately passed away in 2004 of leukemia.

[bananas]

16. k&r nt

[Odin2005]

23. Catholic Gregorian Chant always gives this atheist goosebumps.

Ditto with African-American gospel music.

[Taverner]

28. For me it's Buddhist Chanting

When I lived in Thailand, sometimes I'd go out to the Wat just to hear it

[Odin2005]

29. Buddhist chanting is eerie, LOL!

[dmallind]

24. Damn - we atheists were finally getting a reputation as intellectual aesthetes too

And you have to go ruining that. If hell exists, musicals of any kind are its soundtrack, with possible interpolations of rap, country and atonal jazz.

[immoderate]

25. Arts get a pass. I wouldn't ban Bugs Bunny just cause he's imaginary.

Religions, the successful ones, are about stories. That's almost like literature. :)

I like Stevie Wonder singing "Ave Maria." It's, ah ... soulful. :smoke:

--imm

[Iggo]

26. This comes up every now and then.

And I'll say it again: A properly sung Ave Maria brings me to tears.

[Nihil]

27. I'm largely "Meh" on Godspell but JCS is one of my all-time favourites.

It might be because my first encounter with "Godspell" was a fairly
mediocre school production whereas that with "Superstar" was the film
followed by the London production of it - just couldn't get enough
of the music!

That love of the show was only reinforced by actually playing
Caiaphas in our local production of it a few years back.

:toast: