Organised atheism is on the rise and this prompted John Whitworth to make the excellent suggestion that I challenge competitors to come up with a hymn for atheists. Hymns do not feature at all at The Sunday Assembly, an atheist Church founded last year in London. Instead the congregation sings along, in evangelical style, to pop songs by the likes of the Pointer Sisters, Stevie Wonder and Daft Punk. Perhaps they might feel inspired, by one of the entries below, to change their tune.
There were neat twists on ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, and Milton’s ‘Let us, with a gladsome mind’. I liked Sid Field’s ‘Stand up, stand up for reason’ and George Simmers’s ‘He who would atheist be’. Honourable mentions also go to Barbara Smoker, Nick Grace, Richard Kelly and Samuel Johnson.
The bonus fiver is Rob Stuart’s and the rest take £25 each.
Rob Stuart
What a friend we have in Darwin,
Whose inflammatory research
Formulated evolution,
To the chagrin of the Church.
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