imagine there's no heaven.

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"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world."

is this song really an anti-religion song? why does it mention the "imagine there's no heaven" thing first, before anything else? is it because it is supposedly most important that we do away with religion?

The song always struck me that way ever since it came out in the Seventies in the wake of the Beatles break up.

But oddly I never encountered any discussion of that being the meaning until the last few years (as if that interpretation is the elephant in the room).

Not that that is the only possible interpretation, but it sure sounds like the most obvious interpretation.

I think that's the idea of this song. But I think putting away religion is like cutting away a twig from a massive tree. This in my eyes is stupid, if you want to have peace among humans you have to get rid of the core problem: humanity itself. The Bible says the problem is sin for our behaviour is sin, we disobeyed God. However he presented a solution for this problem, which is Jesus Christ. However if you don't believe in sin or God, there really is no valid solution.

Religion isn't the problem here, rather the people who try to find a way to express these problems through religion.

I always found the song to be dumb.

Why?

Isn't this a Bob Dylan song?
If you are a Christian, Jew, or Muslim, let me state one solid truth: when you die, you don't want to go to heaven.
If God will return and rebuild the earth perfectly, why would you want to be stuck in heaven for ever? Heaven is a waiting place, not the end.

John Lennon.

For some reason it always struck me as particularly smarmy, as if people of all nations - Chinese in Peking, a group of town dwellers in Botswana, people in the streets of Rio and Mexico City, and Native Americans on the reservations all react pointing in awe and wonder as they see this beautiful sparkling fire message drawn in the sky that spells out "There's no God! Relax!" - and they all clink Coca-Cola bottles together with a winking CGI polar bear.

People have a right to write whatever songs they want with whatever lyrics they want, and market and cultural forces are more responsible for those songs living on than the songs or artists themselves. But yeah, it's still pretty campy.

What do you think there is after heaven?

Because it's an idiotic hippie fantasy that is not only impractical, but not even desirable. Plus John Lennon was a massive hypocrite, he stoke about peace but was a violent man.

You never know to be honest. In the Middle Ages ideas like democracy seemed impractical to many but they have taken root in our society just fine.

Well why wouldn't it have been desirable?

There is only God; He will be all we ever need.

I agree if you die you are not going to heaven. God will make us a new earth, and set up his tent and live with us. And since God is infinite it will take us for eternity to get to know Him.

I'm an atheist. The concept of lack of heaven doesn't make it anti-religious, just not necessarily conventional forms.

The way I interpret this art of the song is heaven and hell are part of Judgment therefore iff there was no need for heaven and hell that would imply there was no need for divine Judgement.

It is also a song that poses an hypothetical of a more harmonious world. The spiritual aspect of this song is less obvious than the idealism and emotional appeal.

I've never taken it as a SOLELY anti-religion song----I've always thought of it as just a pro-UNITY song. For instance, "Imagine there's no countries" seems to be saying "Imagine that there's nothing that separates us"; "Imagine no possessions", could be saying "Imagine there are no distractions"; and, "And the world will be as one" and "Imagine all the people sharing all the world" seems to tie everything together in an over-all unity message, of "Our number ONE focus, should be taking care of EACH OTHER".

I imagine (LOL no pun intended) that this song was another thing that confirmed some people's idea that John Lennon was a prophet----and / or, the second coming of Christ (as was heard, often, during "the John Lennon era")----so, I'm thinking that definitely for THEM, also (especially the Lennon is Christ, bunch), this song was / is NOT "anti-religion".