Neal Morse - An Agnostic's View

Truth be told, I'm not convinced that Morse's lyrics convey any hatred against people. He's criticizing - very harshly, I'll grant - a religious tradition which he, in his own earnest convictions, considers false and pernicious.

Friday13th wrote: I read the lyrics again. You have good points, Ivan. I guess that line "let the scriptures be our guide..." makes it pretty clear he's saying let's all follow sola scriptura, not keep modern Catholic traditions either, etc. I whole-heartedly agree that Christians should be united and not argue about little differences in beliefs.

17 In the same way faith, if good deeds do not go with it, is quite dead.

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 14 2015 at 23:12

Lowend wrote: I like Neal Morse. I think he writes good music. I have noticed a few reviews which have been critical of his work due to his preaching. As an agnostic, you'd think that would bother me but it doesn't. I actually admire him for having the courage to put it out there even though I may not share his views. I don't think that should detract from his music. It's just his opinion. I can understand not liking his music but I can't understand not liking it because of the lyrics. My main focus in prog is the compostion and instrumentation. Let the dialog begin .......

I couldn't care less which mythology is exactly used for the lyrics if the music is good to me.

Edited by Svetonio - July 14 2015 at 23:49

t d wombat wrote: In defense of Morse, I personally find it hard to accept how a born again Christian could ever accept that the RCC is the church of the Christ. How is it that a church that has been headed up by some of the vilest individuals imaginable and has allowed the rampant abuse of it's members claim to be guided by the son of God himself ? To that extent as a committed Christian I'm not at all surprised that Morse should criticise the RCC. That does not, btw, suggest that the only religious organisation I'd consider to be somewhat dodgey is the RCC.

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 15 2015 at 18:51

^Just put this straight, Morse would bore me if he sang about sex.

dr wu23 wrote: Can one of the Morse fans here recommend his best solo album...? After Spock's Beard nothing I've heard by him has impressed me. Oh...and did he leave Spock on his own...forced out...or was this about the Christian direction..? btw...I'm listening to the Grand Experiment right now....

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: That's a difference between Catholics and self defined Christians                                      We respect other religions.                                      I couldn't expect more of fanatism

Maybe you and the church now do but its been a long time coming. That said I fully agree that the likes of Morse show all the signs of fanaticism.

Flucktrot wrote: Giving a critique of any entity is not hate, just like me criticizing GW Bush or Obama policy does not make me an anarchist. The Catholic church has historically been linked to both wonderful and terrible things. Pointing out some of the negative stuff is not hate. Sola Scriptura is recognizing Luther for having the courage to point out some of the bad stuff, risking his well being and possibly his life in doing so.  By your logic, instead of praising the whisteblowers who brought out the Enron scandal to the public, we should be angry at them for being haters. We don't think Roger Waters is a Nazi, even though at the time of writing the Wall, he generally believed the stadium rock show to be the same as a fascist rally (although I do have to agree with others posting here that Morse is not in the same galaxy as someone like Waters as a lyricist). Just my two cents...

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 15 2015 at 20:25

Ivan,

Surely Morse in using the description of the church as a whore is referring to the sale of indulgences, the church effectively selling itself. Given that he's referring to the age of Luther then it is a pretty valid claim. Harsh yes, but nonetheless valid.

Again, at the time of Luther there were numerous Christian saints who had been lifted hollus bollus from Roman (and other) culture(s). It may not be pleasant but Morse is stating the case and the case is valid.

Now while the Sack of Rome in 1527 was a pretty horrendous act there is not a lot of evidence to support a case that it was Luther's idea, indeed he seems to have had little if anything to do with it. Yes there were Protestants in Charles' army but there were also a goodly number of Catholics. I am not completely up on the subject but from what I do know this is more to do with sundry political machinations than anything else. Probably best to keep away from bloodletting. Otherwise someone might slip in mention of the Crusades and/or the Conquista.

Anywho ... we should have stuck to the obvious. Morse's music is uninteresting and his lyrics are trite. Godbothering or no godbothering.

Morse's solo work is hackish tripe. The cookie-cutter evangelical lyrics and themes are annoying enough... if you're going to be an offensive and/or windbaggish dick at least do it with a wink and a nudge and more than a bit of creativity, as most "satanic" metal bands do. But even worse is the music... I am a huge SB fan (V is an immortal album) but it's clear that religious zeal has smothered in Neal's brain whatever spark of musical inspiration used to drive him pre-conversion.

Edited by Stereolab - July 16 2015 at 01:52