History Main / ReligionRantSong

* Music/ToriAmos again: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ljHOSqc4A "Crucify"]] (type 2), "Icicle" (type 2/3 with side of TakeThat by way of ADateWithRosiePalms)

ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, this is a song that attacks religion or religious figures. There are various subtropes, though they often overlap:

"Hate the God": The GodIsEvil[=/=]RageAgainstTheHeavens song consists of attacks on a deity that ''is'' actually believed in (though not necessarily by the singer) and objected to. A subset of these are angry versions of HaveYouSeenMyGod, or demands that the deity explain what they think they're playing at, and/or whether they're really what they say they are. Parodies that are a TakeThat at a deity itself also land here. As do pretty much all musical examples of GodIsFlawed. "You don't exist!" as a TakeThat and "if there ''is'' a God or higher power, they are a bastard" themes also fall under this heading.

"Hate the Faithful": The AuthorFilibuster ReligionIsWrong[=/=]OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions rant song is about calling out religion as a pernicious influence, or based on false beliefs, or both. Like the first, this one need not imply atheism, though it often does, and is compatible with JesusWasWayCool type sentiments towards particular deities/religious figures, while attacking UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar, the ChurchMilitant, the PathOfInspiration, what [[ValuesDissonance its singers perceive]] as a ReligionOfEvil, or similar things. This one may also come in calmer versions. Parodies that are a TakeThat at a religion as a whole or at its followers usually land here.

"Hate the Leaders": The Calling Out The Leaders rant song includes songs about losing faith in prophets/gurus/religious leaders and/or specific {{Take That}}s at a specific leader of a PathOfInspiration or perceived ConMan or ScamReligion or KnightTemplar or MoralGuardian, whether or not this also extends to losing faith in the relevant deity/deities or religion. Parodies that are a TakeThat at a leader or a specific subgroup within a religion (e.g. a GreedyTelevangelist or a group of MoralGuardians) are here, no matter how much followers of said religion might insist they are Type 1.

** "Heresy" is definitely this with lyrics like "[[GodIsEvil His perfect kingdom of killing, suffering, and pain / Demands devotion, atrocities done in his name]]" and a rousing chorus of "Your [[GodIsDead God is dead]], and no one cares." Whether the song represents Trent Reznor's actual feelings or those of the album's "main character" is debatable, but the song's internal meaning is clear. WordOfGod is that it was written in reaction to conservative Christians who had claimed that AIDS is divine punishment for promiscuity and homosexuality.

** "Terrible Lie" is a less abstract, more personal variant, although without reading the lyrics booklet it can be hard to tell that each verse actually begins with a distorted voice yelling "Hey, God!" (mostly because it's superimposed with the loud guitar stabs).

** Music/SixFeetUnder, fronted by the former lead singer for Cannibal Corpse, has "Brainwashed" from their third album ''Maximum Violence''.

* If any Music/{{Rush}} song comes closest to being Type I, it would be "Faithless" or "Sweet Miracle."

"Hate the Leaders": The Calling Out The Leaders rant song includes songs about losing faith in prophets/gurus/religious leaders and/or specific {{Take That}}s at a specific leader of a PathOfInspiration or perceived ConMan or ScamReligion or KnightTemplar or MoralGuardian, whether or not this also extends to losing faith in the relevant deity/deities or religion. Parodies that are a TakeThat at a leader or a specific subgroup within a religion (e.g. a ConMan or a group of MoralGuardians) are here, no matter how much followers of said religion might insist they are Type 1.

The opposite, of course, is the SongOfPrayer and ChristianRock, although it certainly isn't impossible for a Christian band to pull out the third kind, or one of the other two if it's aimed at another religion than their own. Not to be confused with NotChristianRock, which is for songs that are only ambiguously about religion.

* Heavy Metal band The Showdown's song "Fanatics & Whores" is a rant about televangelists and others who use religion to scam people out of their money. Notably, this the Showdown are in fact a Christian band ([[NotChristianRock sort of]]).

* Music/{{Underoath}}'s first song, "Heart of Stone", on their first album, ''Act of Depression'' (which [[NotChristianRock ironically]] is their ''only'' [[ChristianRock expressly Christian]] release), a defiant burst of outrage over extremest leaders preceding a gospelicious praise song.

* Music/FrankZappa tends to be even more brutal in his Type 3 songs than his Type 2. "Heavenly Bank Account" on ''You Are What You Is'' is about televangelists in general, whereas "Token of My Extreme" on ''Music/JoesGarage'' is about a religious leader by the name of L. Ron Hoover. [[ChurchOfHappyology Not transparent at all.]] And then there are the live versions of "Penguin in Bondage" and "Lonesome Cowboy Jim (Nee Burt)" on the album "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life". about Jimmy Swaggart and his failure to live up to his own preaching.
--> ''Where's my Prostitute?''

He did it all for you...''\\
* "Blasphemous Rumors" by Music/DepecheMode.
** "Personal Jesus" may be a type 1, a type 2, or a type 3, depending on the interpretation. WordOfGod (yeah, we know) apparently favors type 2. Music/JohnnyCash's [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning version]] seems closer to a subversion of type 1, or possibly 3, and either way makes it sound like a straight(ish) {{God Is Love Song|s}} rather than a TakeThat at one. It also manages to sound like it's an original the Depeche Mode version is the cover of, partly due to the piano riff. Music/MarilynManson's cover takes the Depeche Mode version and adds 100% more bitterness.
** "Personal Jesus" may not be a Religion Rant Song at all, more like a BlasphemousBoast song.
** Simple phone sex is another, somewhat, popular interpretation of "Personal Jesus". Which might make it a type II, as it would, arguably, equate religiosity to an act deemed desperate, or perverse.

* "Heresy" by Music/NineInchNails is definitely this with lyrics like "[[GodIsEvil His perfect kingdom of killing, suffering, and pain / Demands devotion, atrocities done in his name]]" and a rousing chorus of "Your [[GodIsDead God is dead]], and no one cares." Whether the song represents Trent Reznor's actual feelings or those of the album's "main character" is debatable, but the song's internal meaning is clear.
** WordOfGod is that it was written in reaction to conservative Christians who had claimed that AIDS is divine punishment for promiscuity and homosexuality.

* The gruesome parody of the 23rd Psalm in Music/PinkFloyd's "Sheep" from ''Music/{{Animals|1977}}''
** The lyrics are ambiguously just anti-authoritarianism than being anti-religion specifically.
* "Dreadnaught" by Music/MachinaeSupremacy's lyrics boil down to "GodIsEvil and He wants your nation to TakeOverTheWorld."

* "God Help Me" by Music/EmilieAutumn is about losing faith in God.
** YMMV on that, though, as the lyrics suggest more of a lost faith in the world around the singer or a lost faith in one person in particular.

* Music/AbneyPark's "Virus" is a Type 2 that makes Christianity sound like, well, a virus that turns people into zombies.

* Music/ArchEnemy can be found here.
* Music/BadReligion (naturally) has "Requiem for Dissent," which is a low-key Type 2.

* Music/MCHawking, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89jt7zJzkNQ What We Need More of is Science]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGNRYNdVT7g Fuck the Creationists]]" - Type 2.

* Music/TimMinchin has done quite a few of these, including "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFO6ZhUW38w If You Open Your Mind Too Much, Your Brain Will Fall Out]]" (Type 2), "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHRDfut2Vx0 Pope Song]]" (Type 3) and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXfmjMlPEic Ten Foot Cock and a Few Hundred Virgins]]" (A mixture of all three).

* The theme of Music/{{Epica}}'s ''[[ConceptAlbum The Divine Conspiracy]]''. Unless it's not (someone confirm?)
** Not The Divine Conspiracy specifically but Mark Jansen has always loved this trope even when he was with After Forever.

* "Shallow Be Thy Game" by Music/RedHotChiliPeppers is a take that at organized religion in general, but mainly the Catholic church. It's a non-atheist example though, as it does contain the lyric "Your hell is something scary, I prefer a loving God".

* Music/JohnLennon's "Music/{{Imagine}}" is about as non-angry an example as you can get, as it's mainly a song about peace, with religion and the wars fought over it being a primary obstacle to that peace. Of course, the song seems to imply that all war would vanish if religion (and certain other social forces) did, making [[DaydreamBeliever Lennon]] a bit of an [[TheIdealist Idealist]].

* The Music/InFlames song "Goliaths Disarm their Davids" is about trying to free oneself from religion, calling it "a mess of psychotic chaos that once I mistook myself."
** Also, Zombie Inc, about, among other things, Mary.

* Music/MachinaeSupremacy has "Violator", which is a TakeThat towards blind faith and the society it creates.

* Music/FrankZappa: About a third of ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' is either a 2 or a 3:
** "Dumb All Over". Clearly giving a TakeThat to all religion, so mostly Type 2, with a little Type 1 on the side.
--> ''We can't be dumb if we're just following God's orders. He put it right in this book here that he made us all to be just like Him. So if we're dumb, then God is dumb, and maybe a little ugly on the side''.
** "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing", It's all right there in the title. Type 2.
--> ''Some take the Bible for what it's worth\\

* Music/CannibalCorpse's "When Death Replaces Life" is this, which is a departure from the band's usual focus on gore and horror.

* "Holy Smoke" by Music/IronMaiden deals with televangelist scandals of TheEighties, alluding to Jimmy Swaggart and Tammy Faye Bakker among others.

''I need my ego to explode''\\

** The song was originally written in 1980 and aimed at the then newly-formed Iranian theocracy, who were holding the US embassy workers hostage. It has gained a new lease on life in recent years.

* ''Literature/LeftBehind: The Kids'' series has Z-Van, a musician who is part of the band The Four Horseman, who is an advocate of the one-world ruler Nicolae Carpathia, and writes songs against those who believe that YHWH is the true God while he proclaims Carpathia as the true God, such as "Praying To Air" and "Not Coming Back".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lt2f2qZfwo&feature=related Everybody Hates Ned Flanders]]" song comes close to this, with at least a few moments of overlap. Since Ned is basically [[GoodSamaritan the nicest person in town]], this is PlayedForLaughs. (Note that Flanders is singing ''himself'' at one point.)

* The gruesome parody of the 23rd Psalm in Music/PinkFloyd's "Sheep" from ''Music/{{Animals}}''

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EprQGmZ3Imw Jesus He Knows Me]] by Music/{{Genesis}}, is about televangelists, their extravagant lifestyles and their tendency to not practice what they preach.

* In ''VideoGame/EldenRing'', the OminousLatinChanting of the Godskin Apostles begins by declaring the Apostles' hatred and envy of the Golden Order and its chosen gods, before transitioning into [[KillTheGod their]] [[FlayingAlive gruesome]] [[GenuineHumanHide intentions]]:
--> ''Obumbravit por arbor / Escludutur por tuu gracia / Odio tuu gracia, invidio tuu gracia / da mihi pellis!'' \\
''Overshadowed by your tree / excluded by your grace / I hate your grace, I envy your grace / give me your skin!''

* Music/{{Ghost}}:

God says keep the dogouse cool\\

God says have an amusement park!''\\

* "Holy Man" by One Minute Silence has the singer ask God if he's supposed to be Jesus and whether the singer's way is wrong and God's is right.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EprQGmZ3Imw Jesus He Knows Me]] by Music/{{Genesis}}, all about televangelists.

* [[Music/OzzyOsbourne Ozzy Osbourne's]] song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j34juXrJWqw Miracle Man]]" is a TakeThat to Jimmy Swaggart, in reaction to his prostitution scandals.

* Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Leper Messiah" and Music/InsaneClownPosse's [[Music/TheGreatMilenko "Hellelujah"]] attack religious con-artists who fleece their flock in the monetary sense.

* Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Leper Messiah" and Music/InsaneClownPosse's [[Music/TheGreatMilenko "Hellelujah"]] are Type 3, attacking religious con-artists who fleece their flock in the monetary sense.

* Music/{{Apocalyptica}}'s "I'm Not Jesus" is written from the perspective of the former victim of a PedophilePriest. As you can probably guess, he is ''not happy'' with his former abuser.