SPIRIT IN THE SKY: AN ANTHEM FOR THE CRADLE OF RELIGIONS
By Frank Newton
Mon. July 12th, 2021
Yesterday one of my two favorite radio stations played "Spirit
in the Sky," a song written and sung by Norman Greenbaum.
When I die and they lay me to rest,
Gonna go to the place that's the best.
When I lay me down to die,
Goin' up to the spirit in the sky.
Goin' up to the spirit in the sky --
That's where I'm gonna go when I die --
When I die and they lay me to rest,
I'm gonna go to the place that's the best.
I had heard it many times before. But yesterday, it seemed to me that Greenbaum's song could be an anthem for the cradle of religions (the Near East).
The first stanzas quoted above affirm that there will be an afterlife. Later in the song, Greenbaum mentions Jesus twice. But according to Wikipedia, Greenbaum is an observant Jew.
I know we Christians, and the Muslims, believe in the afterlife of heaven and hell. But I wasn't sure whether the Jews believed in an afterlife. I found that Jews do believe in the afterlife from reading parts of the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_eschatology . It is an excellent article and I recommend it warmly -- says I, not speaking as a religious expert which I'm not, but speaking as an avid reader of encyclopedias. It provides a fair amount of detail on a subject which Jewish thinkers have written a lot about, detail which I am omitting here.
So. The beginning of Norman Greenbaum's song affirms beliefs that the Jews, Christians, and Muslims share in common. That is why I have given Greenbaum's song a new name: the anthem of the cradle of religions.
Other religious people that I know (or have read the writings of) have expressed concerns about the watering down of our religious beliefs. I rejoice in my Christian beliefs. But one of the central tenets of the type of Christianity which God has written in my heart is that the people of any good religion, including my Christian religion, are forbidden to kill people of other religions or no religion, even if they think less of people of other religions or no religion because of their religious differences.
So the idea of having an anthem for the cradle of religions -- that is, an anthem which celebrates the common core of beliefs of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and the coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims -- is very appealing to me. It touches a chord in my heart. I was Judeo-Christian. But now I'm Judeo-Christian-Muslim. (Footnote for wordsmiths: one -o- is enough.)
Frank Newton
