I am still kicking myself for missing Refused at Vacation Vinyl because I live so close to the record store, but what could I do? First I didn’t know about it, secondly I was at another show!
However, we can listen to another song of the Swedish band’s upcoming album ‘Freedom’, made available through BBC Radio 1. And if ‘Françafrique’ was a weird one for the hardcore band, this one, entitled ‘Dawkins Christ’, sounds much more like their usual aggressive style. After some humming female vocals, the menacing guitars build a momentum and what’s next is a full assault, all loud and screaming. Does it sound like a few other Refused songs? Yes! Will people go totally crazy when they play it live? You bet! It’s gonna produce some ravage and there’s nothing new there.
But the title really intrigued me… Dawkins? Could they talk about Richard Dawkins? Apparently they do, they apparently talk about religion and what people call the new atheist movement that the famous evolutionist often represents. This is what frontman Dennis Lyxzén explained to Rolling Stone when asked if the song which yells ‘Feels like I’ve got Judas’ heart/Dawkins’ head/Praise the Lord / God is dead’, was a sort of endorsement of atheism:
‘Not really. I’m not against it, but a song like ‘Dawkins Christ’ is about the fact that we live in a very fragmented, frightening world. And we as humans have an urge to fit in in order to make sense of this world. And really, atheism has just replaced Christianity as another doctrine of how you can fit in. The song is a very complex song because it’s not only about religion or non-religion, it’s also about our own self-worth. It’s interesting to me because I’m not a religious person, but I also don’t blindly accept atheism as a doctrine. I don’t think that’s healthy, either. [Laughs] How many rock bands do you think have written songs about this?’
I am disappointed and I could not disagree more with him! Not on the last part but on the fact that atheism is just another doctrine, because it is the opposite of a doctrine, there is no book of atheism, no rules! And it’s not because there is an ism at the end, is anachronism a doctrine?….Atheists are not even an unity, a group, they don’t really gather, except may be for a Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris’ lecture? but that’s different because it is about learning and thinking, not repeating over and over excerpts from old books. ‘I also don’t blindly accept atheism as a doctrine’? Who asked him to accept atheism anyway, did he see any atheists knocking on his door to force him to sign in? A doctrine is a set of believes taught by a group, and atheism is the opposite of a doctrine because an absence of belief is not a belief. Atheism simply means the absence of god, and this absence of belief is logically based on an absence of evidence for supernatural because only evidence and scientific facts work for an atheist’s mind. I forgot who came up with these ones, but you know ‘If atheism is a religion then bald is a hair color, ‘If atheism is a religion then health is a disease’, ‘If atheism is a religion, then abstinence is a sexual position,’…. And it’s ridiculous for Refused to ask for Dawkins’ head! Now listen to their song: