The process of belief

I saw Bad Religion rock the Whiskey A-Go-Go last Thursday night as

hundreds of screaming fans chanted along in unison and formed a swirling

pit of mayhem in front of the stage.

To me Bad Religion is not just a band. Sure I love the pounding

forbidden beats, the flaming guitar leads, the incredible bliss and goose

bumps generated from lead singer Greg Graffin’s harmonies, but there’s

more.

They are the single most important nonpersonal entity in my life. I

first heard Bad Religion when I was 17 years old, and I can say that my

view on life was immediately changed forever.

You see, they taught me to look at things -- life -- from a different

perspective. The lyrical phrasing of Graffin -- a comparative anatomy

lecturer at Cornell University -- and his songwriting partner, guitarist

Brett Gurewitz, gives the listeners both a scientific and poetic sonic

view.

With lyrics like: “And the fertile crescent is burning today, and baby

my emotions are too, the cradle of humanity has led us all astray, and

we’re all in this together don’t you know, ‘cause our species has nowhere

else to go.” Graffin points out the flaws of mankind and how

scientifically our world seems a bit stalled.

Contrastingly Gurewitz writes: “I heard them say that the meek shall

reign on earth phantasmal myriads of sane bucolic birth I’ve seen the

rapture in a starving baby’s eyes inchoate beatitude the Lord of the

flies.” Here Gurewitz poetically paints a grim picture of man’s quest for

competition and the destination to which it eventually will take him.

These lyrics may seem downtrodden but Bad Religion’s message is not

negative, it’s instead about improving the condition of our lives. Trying

to understand.

In 1994 three of my best friends were killed in a car accident after

coming back from visiting me in college at the University of Arizona. A

week earlier Bad Religion released the album “Stranger than Fiction.”

Obviously struggling with my own mortality and the meaning of life, of

all things a Bad Religion song helped pull me through.

The song Better off Dead states: “Better off dead, yeah better than

this, take it away ‘cuz there’s nothing to miss.”

“Take it away ‘cuz there’s nothing to miss.” Maybe it was their time

to go. For me it helped it all make sense -- of course it doesn’t hurt

that the music rocks like no other.

* PAUL SAITOWITZ is a news editor. He can be reached at (949) 574-4295

or by e-mail at paul.saitowitz@latimes.com.