Music Is My Religion

by: Daly Tongren

religion (n): an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group; a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

– Merriam Webster online dictionary

I was sitting in my social justice lecture a few days ago as the class was analyzing Supreme Court cases in which Americans had fought for their freedom of religion. Not being a particularly religious person myself, I struggled to relate to the plaintiffs in these cases. So I sat in class trying to imagine what caring that much about something would look like. And it hit me.

What if I was told I couldn’t wear a shirt with Kurt Cobain’s face on it in a public place? What if I was prohibited from getting song lyrics tattooed on my body? What if people were in the streets burning copies of “Double Fantasy?”

Music is a religion. Music is my religion.

Sure, we’ve all seen that phrase printed on a dozen Facebook cover photos plastered with sparkling eighth notes and draped in drop shadows. But it’s more than a just a Hendrix quote; it is the honest to gosh truth.

The gods are the musicians. The churches are the concert venues. The followers are the fans. The bibles are the songbooks. The hymns are track listings. Communion is taken at the record stores to pay homage to the artists that have devoted their lives to the one thing you have faith in.

Now I understand the Muslims who fight to be given time and space for prayer at work, the Orthodox Jews who refuse to take off their yarmulkes even though they violate certain dress codes, and the Seventh Day Adventists whose employers won’t give them Sundays off the job for observance.

I feel for the victims of religious persecution - those who have the one thing they hold most dear to their souls threatened. For music is my religion, and my faith lies within the treble and bass clefs.