{"id":32589,"date":"2024-11-03T08:49:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T13:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=32589"},"modified":"2024-11-03T08:49:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T13:49:49","slug":"imagine-theres-no-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/imagine-theres-no-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagine There’s No Heaven…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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T<\/span>he title above is how Imagine<\/em><\/a>, the iconic 1971 song by John Lennon,<\/strong> begins. It is still being played and sung, more than 50 years later. Wikipedia<\/a> tells us it is “one of the 100 most performed songs of the 20th century.” The song was re-released as a single in 1980 following Lennon’s murder, reaching number one on the UK charts. It was re-released in 1988 and again in 1999. For some listeners, myself included, that first verse was an opening to an atheist anthem to sing aloud:<\/p>\n

Imagine there’s no heaven
\nIt’s easy if you try
\nNo hell below us
\nAbove us, only sky
\nImagine all the people
\nLiving for today<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But for many more, the most powerful line \u2014 and the most controversial \u2014 comes in the second verse where he sings “And no religion too.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Imagine a world without religion.<\/em> <\/strong>That line was uplifting for atheists, humanists, and secularists who feel religion has too much influence in worldly matters. But despite singing aloud what they have been saying for many years, it’s a lot harder than Lennon breezily suggested. In uber-religious nations like Iran, Afghanistan, and the USA, it is almost impossible to imagine them without religion. It’s easier to imagine Xitter without racists, Marjory Taylor Green without puerile conspiracies, megachurches without millionaire con artists preaching for more money from their congregations, or YouTube without ads.<\/p>\n

\"Pseudo-ChristianBut as we near the end of the contentious 2024 US election campaign, I still like to imagine how it might have progressed if religion was at least legislated out of political campaigns, and churches and pastors that involved themselves in politics (including preaching or online sermons) were taxed like businesses for doing so. Imagine future campaigns without religion.<\/p>\n

Imagine a campaign where the far-right pseudo-Christian Talibangelists did not hold sway over candidates, did not push their repressive agendas banning abortions, women’s rights, and punishing doctors. Imagine not having pseudo-Christian pro-fascist posters pretending patriotism like that on the right. Imagine candidates not performing their charades in phony “prayer” meetings. Imagine a campaign where the racist, misogynist, serial liar and felon Trump didn’t pretend to be Christian, didn’t sell tacky made-in-China bibles with fake leather covers, didn’t pretend to read the bible and get exposed for not being able to name a single book or verse in it.*<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine a campaign where Christofascist preachers didn’t clutch their pearls and go into a frothing rampage of misogynist hate and angst over an ad that suggests women don’t have to vote the way their husbands order them to. Or the fragile male egos of MAGA commentators and Fox Newz talking heads<\/a> (the American outlet for Russian State TV) didn’t claim acting independently was equivalent to them “having an affair” because thinking women is anathema to pseudo-Christian ideology:<\/p>\n