Atheist public school choir directors and their views on religious music performance

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the religious development, life experiences, and perspectives of six atheist high school choral music teachers on their current attitudes about performing sacred choral music within the public school education system. Six atheist choir directors participated in eighteen semi-structured interviews, resulting in 608 minutes of data. Main analysis occurred through first- and second-wave coding, with horizontalization within the process. Analysis revealed five main themes that defined atheist choir director experiences: youth religious participation largely motivated by community and vibrant music, moving away from religious teaching throughout adolescence and college, feelings of other as a non-Christian minority, stepping into a role to participate in religious rituals, and programming religious music by presentation rather than proselytizing. Additionally, there was intersectional overlapping between the sexuality of a participant and their development as atheists. The essence of atheist choir directors is that of a lived contradiction between religious music and a non-believing music presenter.