Just to clarify, Beyond the Reach of God isn’t what I felt was overly disrespectful (it seems more like frank disagreement, which I think is still compatible with respect). It was the song that had a chorus of “goddamn”.
Also, my comment about cargo-culting church services wasn’t meant as a criticism. Often cargo-culting something known to work is the best you can do as a first step (at least until more data comes in). I have no better ideas and think the planners did a better job than I could have done (by far).
In short, I don’t think we should mock/disrespect those people/institutions, because (besides being mean for little benefit) it makes it hard to take them seriously enough to learn from them the things they are currently doing better (of which there are several).
Huh. That song struck me as so silly and almost content-free (it’s vaguely bemoaning that winter sucks, I think) that I didn’t even think of it as something that might be controversial (except for being silly and almost content free).
But it was not a very popular song (different people had different criticisms, some more addressable than others), so I wouldn’t be too worried about it next year.
I think it makes more sense to focus songs on our positive shared values for the light periods and on uncomfortable issues like death in the dark period.
Just to clarify, Beyond the Reach of God isn’t what I felt was overly disrespectful (it seems more like frank disagreement, which I think is still compatible with respect). It was the song that had a chorus of “goddamn”.
Also, my comment about cargo-culting church services wasn’t meant as a criticism. Often cargo-culting something known to work is the best you can do as a first step (at least until more data comes in). I have no better ideas and think the planners did a better job than I could have done (by far).
In short, I don’t think we should mock/disrespect those people/institutions, because (besides being mean for little benefit) it makes it hard to take them seriously enough to learn from them the things they are currently doing better (of which there are several).
Huh. That song struck me as so silly and almost content-free (it’s vaguely bemoaning that winter sucks, I think) that I didn’t even think of it as something that might be controversial (except for being silly and almost content free).
But it was not a very popular song (different people had different criticisms, some more addressable than others), so I wouldn’t be too worried about it next year.
Okay, I can understand that sentiment. It doesn’t seem to be one of the songs published in http://humanistculture.bandcamp.com/album/brighter-than-today-a-secular-solstice
I think it makes more sense to focus songs on our positive shared values for the light periods and on uncomfortable issues like death in the dark period.