Religiously Skeptical Gems 2.0 | Playlist

5. Kesha, “Hymn”

Album: Rainbow, 2017

On “Hymn,” Kesha recorded a “hymn for the hymn-less.” As illustrated above, “Hymn” fits right into the uplifting, empowering, and all-inclusive nature of Rainbow. The chorus is among the selling points.

“This is a hymn for the hymn-less, kids with no religion / Yeah, we keep on sinning, yeah, we keep on singing / Flying down the highway, backseat of the Hyundai / Pull it to the front, let it run, we don’t valet / Sorry if you’re star struck, blame it on the stardust / I know that I’m perfect, even though I’m fucked up / Hymn for the hymn-less, don’t need forgiveness / ‘Cause if there’s a heaven, don’t care if we get in.”

Kesha doesn’t explicitly denounce church or God in the least.  But, she makes it clear that this song is for a group of the underrepresented.

6. Brand New, “Could Never Be Heaven”

Album: Science Fiction, 2017

Brand New made a comeback in 2017, self-releasing their new album, Science Fiction.  It worked out well for them, as the band scored its first no. 1 album.  You know what else they scored? A spot on this religiously skeptical song list!  Perhaps “Could Never Be Heaven” isn’t a bold denouncement of religion or God like other songs, but there’s clear skepticism.  Most of it due to clever mentions of God, but they aren’t necessarily petitions or praise contextually.

“I have no heart, I have no brain / Lord I have no courage / Can you get me home again?”

There’s more. On the second verse, frontman Jesse Lacey sings, “I was drowning in the lake, damned…/ The deeper I sank, the less I died…” Telling, but the big one comes later:

“The whale is well-rehearsed / Swimming in circles in the church / A cardinalfish says, ‘God is dead’ / The whale sales, ‘Get out of my head / Get out of my head / Get out of my head.’”

7. Marilyn Manson, “Tattooed in Reverse”

Album: Heaven Upside Down, 2017 

“So, fuck your bible and your Babel / I made this psalm into my dirty bomb.”  This opening lyric sets the unapologetic tone of “Tattooed in Reverse,” the second song from Heaven Upside Down.  Clearly, Marilyn Manson paints the picture of a deviant, who is deranged and seemingly ‘built all wrong from the start.’ This ‘loose cannon’ doesn’t care about religion or God in the least, essentially reversing things into utter hellishness and evil.  The chorus is thrilling, capturing the suspect state of mind of this psycho:

“I’m un-stabled, I’m not a show horse / I can’t be bridled, of course / I’m un-scabbed and un-regretted / I got tattooed in reverse.”

The groove of “Tattooed in Reverse” should sound relatively familiar – it’s similar to “Killing Strangers,” the opener from The Pale Emperor.  The guitars are distorted, while the use of electronics provides an additional lift.  Manson is on autopilot, which is something that the religious folk don’t particularly care to hear.

8. Tyler Glenn, “Devil”

Album: Excommunication, 2016 | Previous Playlist Appearance: 26 Notable LGBTQ Songs Since 2010

“Sunday mornings make me nervous / They don’t feel like they used to feel / My religion feels wrong, but I can’t tell my mom / I’m afraid that my words would kill.”

Cutting to the chase, Tyler Glenn, frontman of Neon Trees, was pretty pissed off on his debut solo album, Excommunication.  The album focused on his break with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka the Mormon Church.  The main reason for this break was Glenn’s homosexuality.  Disappointed by being unaccepted by the church as a gay man, naturally, he left.  One of the biggest instances of his newfound skepticism towards religion comes at the end of Excommunication, “Devil.”

“I think I still believe in Jesus / He’s a friend when I choose to pray / But my demons get me high, ‘til I’m burning all the time / Yeah, they never wash my sins away.”

One never gets the impression that Glenn is an atheist now – there’s still something there. But, he has clearly lost faith.

“I swear I still believe in something / But I couldn’t pray the gay away.”