dangerous idea

This is a blog to discuss philosophy, chess, politics, C. S. Lewis, or whatever it is that I'm in the mood to discuss.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Amazing Grace in the House of the Rising Sun

I always knew you could do Amazing Grace to the tune of the House of the Rising Sun. Combining the message of the two songs, however, really makes secular humanism seem shallow and silly, in my humble opinion.

posted by Victor Reppert @ 5:35 PM  

8 Comments:

  • At May 26, 2011 8:34 PM , Blogger William said...

    ..and the original of the tune of the U.S. national anthem was
    (quoting from _Straight Dope_, a website)

    "To Anacreon in Heaven," an English drinking song written by John Stafford Smith with words by Ralph Tomlinson, Esq. According to tradition it was first "sung at the Crown Anchor Tavern in the Strand, circa 1780." ... Anacreon (563-478 B.C.) was a Greek poet known for his songs of wine and women.

    Music and lyrical content are often identified only by association.

     

  • At May 26, 2011 10:15 PM , Blogger Gimli 4 the West said...

    We’re all syncretist nowadays.

     

  • At May 26, 2011 10:51 PM , Blogger Victor Reppert said...

    But there are some pretty critical similarities between the message of the two songs, if you notice the parallel between the word "wretch" in Amazing Grace and "sin and misery" in the House of the Rising Sun. We CAN and DO make wrong choices that wreck our lives. Whether or not there is amazing grace should be the only controversial issue.

    http://dangerousidea.blogspot.com/2009/09/denying-cat-wonderful-chesterton-quote.html

     

  • At May 27, 2011 4:56 AM , Blogger Ilíon said...

    "Greensleves" works, too.

     

  • At May 28, 2011 3:23 AM , Blogger Mark Frank said...

    To dismiss a view held by so many intelligent and educated people as "shallow and silly" does not sound like a humble opinion!

     

  • At May 28, 2011 12:35 PM , Blogger Victor Reppert said...

    What I said was that it seems shallow and silly. And what I had in mind was not nonbelief in the existence of God, but rather a kind of misguided optimism about human nature that sometimes goes with secularism.

     

  • At May 29, 2011 9:46 AM , Blogger woodchuck64 said...

    Victor,

    ... a kind of misguided optimism about human nature that sometimes goes with secularism.

    The vices I infer from "House of the Rising Sun", drinking, gambling, prostitution possibly, are interesting in that none of them entail an act of willful harm against another person, but were considered acts of intrinsic evil nonetheless. The first two are no longer considered wrong by most of society and this seems to be due to a shift to consequentialist ethics; drinking/gambling is wrong only if it harms your job/relationships/health. The same sort of consequentialism seems to be at work in making prostitution legal in some areas of societies. Is it consequentialism (which I think is secular humanism's primary ethical approach) that you see as seeming silly and shallow?

     

  • At May 29, 2011 2:43 PM , Blogger Victor Reppert said...

    Alcohol, gambling, and prostitution all do harm. Whether that harm is best controlled by makes those particular activities illegal, or whether it is best controlled by not having legal restrictions is a further and separate issue. In the case of alcohol, Christianity historically has opposed the abuse, and not simply the use of alcohol.

     

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