to enjoy certain hymns, even though I am not a Christian ?

[vienna1981]

Lyrically, hymns are largely meaningless because of their subject matter. However, there are some very fine tunes to be found within. I like the commonly known stuff such as All Things Bright And Beautiful, Immortal Invincible and The Lord Is My Shepherd (we had the latter at my mum's funeral).
My favourite, however, is Abide With Me. The melody is gorgeous. But am I a hypocrite to have a fondness for something I don't believe in ?

Also, do Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art count as hymns. The latter strikes me as an African American spiritual. I don't know if it is . Thankyou.

Yanbu

I had a CoE upbringing and love love love loads of hymns even though I don't have a faith as an adult.

If you don't believe, then they are still nice songs. What's hypocritical about liking a nice song?

The lyrics of All Things Bright and Beautiful make me want to mount the barricades singing 'The Red Flag'. But YANBU otherwise, of course. I grew up Catholic, but the C of E has far superior hymns.

YANBU at all.

We are (many of us) cultural Anglicans in the same way that many people identify as cultural Jews.

You don't have to believe in the magic to appreciate the tradition and the art.

What's the one with "Bread of Heaven"? I like that one especially.

I feel the same. I'm a firm atheist but love some hymns, as well as carols. I don't think it's necessary to believe in the words, any more than it's necessary to believe a film or a tv show to enjoy it.

Cool. Crisis of conscience (minor) averted .

I'm not a Christian, but there are loads of hymns I love. Lord of the dance, make me a channel of your peace, I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Then there's carols. And the fact that I've been eating eater eggs and hot cross buns most of the day.

So no, YANBU!

I love "oh holy night" when done right it gives me goosebumps, don't know why. And no, I'm not at all religious.

This is my second hymns thread today and I'm an atheist .

I love:

Forgive our foolish ways
To be a pilgrim
At the name of Jesus
Abide with me
The Lord's my shepherd
Bread of heaven (can't remember real name)

Oh and not really a hymn but Morning Has Broken is just lovely and makes me cry.

You cannot help but enjoy what you do. it maybe brings back nice memories and makes you feel connected to certain events or people. Are you hurting anyone? Carry on and don't worry. I'm not from a religious background so can't really give you a theoretical opinion but I know very good atheists, Christians, Hindu , Jewish , Muslim and Buddhist people. It's how you treat others that matters I think, x

Bread of Heaven is Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer, the melody being Cwm Rhondda.

Of course you're not unreasonable - they are part of the fabric of you and all your experiences. Most of us sang songs in school or may have gone to the odd service as a child.

Singing is a very powerful experience.

YANBU. Much of the music written for religious reasons is truly beautiful. I particularly enjoy unaccompanied choral music, sends shivers down my spine +in a good way!)

Thanks Andrew :)

To be fair, I like a lot of pop songs that are catchy and have a good tune but where I think the words are bollocks :o

LadyGregory You do know that they no longer sing the verse about The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them high and lowly, And ordered their estate - don't you?

My favourites are

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind - to the wonderful tune of Repton.

Eternal Father, strong to save.

My father told me about being in a cinema in Portsmouth watching a newsreel about the sinking of the Bismarck. One of the Royal Nave vessels had got some footage which was included and as Bismarck began to list one of the many naval ratings in the audience stood up and began Eternal Father, and the entire audience stood and joined in. The story brought tears to his eyes, and it still does to mine at this keyboard fifty-odd years after he told me about it.

Agree with 'oh holy night'.

And 'sing hosanna' is a favourite - it reminds me of my gramps, teaching it to me on the recorder.

All Things Bright and Beautiful was the hymn my Nan requested for her funeral. Makes me teary thinking about it, its such a childish song really, but lovely

I am an atheist, but church was part of my upbringing. Although I find some hymns and Carols dirgy, many are a joy to sing with others.

I also love Eternal Father Strong to Save,

Jerusalem,

Lord of All Hopefulness

Praise My Soul The King of Heaven

Morning Has Broken

YANBU
I was just saying on another thread what a shame it is that there is generally only a minority of people that sing, or even try to sing, at funerals, for example. There is something almost magnificent about singing as part of a large group (the larger the better - try being part of the crowd at an international rugby match, or some football stadia).
I feel people who don't sing, miss out in their lives

I'm an absolute atheist. But I LOVE hymns. How Great Thou Art is one of my particular favourites.

I'm not religious either, but I like quite a few hymns and carols. Very uplifting.

I'm an athiest but I bloody love hymns. Dear lord and father of mankind, How great thou art and O holy night make me cry. It's the music...the soaring melodies. Love them!

I do love a good hymn. I'm another atheist.
I'm Welsh and love Bread of Heaven :)
And lots of others. I was worried at a funeral recently when I read the Order of Service that the hymns weren't familiar but once the tune got going I realised I knew them.