Ex-C Songs To Keep Your Deconversion Sanity

[Guest]

Because I studied music in school, I found that the only way to keep my sanity was writing about the horribleness of Biblegod and Christian culture, and listening to what others had to say about the issue. Add your favorite songs that helped you deconvert! 

 

Through Smoke- NeedtoBreathe

 

"When their whispers have painted pictures that

Make you doubt what you once believed in

Paper stories that hide the glory

To keep us searching"

 

Take Me to Church- Hozier

 

"No masters or kings when the ritual begins

There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin

In the madness and soil of that sad early scene

Only then I am human, only then I am clean"

 

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked- Cage the Elephant

 

"I saw a preacher man in cuffs, he'd taken money from the church

He'd stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills

But even still I can't say much because I know we're all the same

Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills"

 

God- John Lennon

 

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain"

 

Hallelujah- Jeff Buckley

 

"Maybe there's a god above, but all I've ever learned from love

Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you

And it's not a cry that you hear at night

It's not somebody who's seen the light

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah"

 

God- Tori Amos

 

"God, sometimes you just don't come through

Did you need a woman to look after you?"

 

Forgiven- Alanis Morissette

 

"In the name of the father, the skeptic and the son

I had one more stupid question

 

What I learned I rejected but I believe again

I will suffer the consequence of this inquisition

If I jump in this fountain

Will I be forgiven? 

 

We all had delusions in our heads

We all had our minds made up for us"

 

Crucify- Tori Amos

 

"I've been raising up my hands

Drive another nail in

Got enough guilt to start

My own religion"

 

Broken Crown- Mumford and Sons

 

"So crawl on my belly till the sun goes down

I'll never wear your broken crown

I took the road and fucked it all away

Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace"

 

Tomorrow, Wendy- Concrete Blonde

 

"I told the priest, 'don't count on any second coming'

God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming

He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us

No I don't wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us"

 

Mrs. Robinson- Simon and Garfunkel

 

"So here's to you Mrs Robinson

Jesus loves you more than you will know"

 

Rose- Shook Twins

 

"How does she know?

Where we all go

How does she know?
That she has a soul"

 

Wicked Little Witnesses- Shook Twins

 

"Can they keep this, can they keep this story up, I just don't know

Cause i hear whispers, whispers coming out behind the pews

And mama's turning pages, she's trying to sing in tune

And daddy's at the podium saying truth

 

I hear questions

Like what the hell do you have us fighting for

Cause we're marching around in circles

Seeing what we've done

And realizing no one here has won"

 

What If No One's Watching- Ani Difranco

 

"What if God ain't looking down

What if he's looking up instead"

 

Imagine- John Lennon

 

"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"

 

I Will Follow You Into the Dark- Death Cab for Cutie

 

"If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied

Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark"

 

St. Peter's Cathedral- Death Cab

 

"There's a steeple that is reaching

Up towards the heavens

Such ambition never failing to amaze me

It's either quite a master plan

Or just chemicals that help us understand

That when our hearts stop ticking

This is the end

And there's nothing past this"

 

Glory Hallelujah- Frank Turner

 

"Well I've known beauty in the stillness of cathedrals in the day,

I've sung 'Glory Hallelujah' won't wash my sins away?

But now I'm singing my refrain and this is what I say,

I say there never was no God"

 

Gods and Monsters- Lana Del Rey

 

"I don't really wanna know what's good for me

God's dead, I said 'baby that's alright with me'

 

No one's gonna take my soul away

Living like Jim Morrison"

[hockeyfan70]

David Bazan's "Curse Your Branches' album is my favorite deconversion album.

 

Lyrics like:

 

I swung my tassel to the left side of my cap

Knowing after graduation there would be no going back

and no congratulations from my faithful family

some of whom are already fasting to intercede for me

 

-----

God knows, if you notice

The millions of small holes

And ponder the weight of an apple

Compared to the trouble we're in

Then a grown man might

Be tempted to question his birthright

In front of his kids and devout wife

Causing the doubt to begin to spread like original sin

 

------

 

You used to sound like a prophet

And everyone wanted to know

How you could tell the truth

Without losing that soft glow

But now you feel like a salesman

Closing another deal

Or some drunk ship captain

Raging after the white whale

 

You used to feel like the forest fire burning

But now you feel like a child

Throwing tantrums and then some

You used to feel like the prodigal returning

But now you hate what you've made

And you want to watch it burn

 

[Guest]

YES! I was going to add more haha! David Bazan is IT. 

 

Dear Abram- Jose Gonazlez 

 

"Abram, either wake up or go to bed

You're sleepwalking with a delirious head

You were programmed a long, long, long time ago

Your stories are old, old and your acclimation is slow

 

Oh, go to sleep

 

Not much of what you say makes any sense

Cook up some myths then ask for obedience

Even though you mean well, well most of the time

You've aided delusion and created bias in our minds"

 

Heads Roll Off- Frightened Rabbit

 

"And God's got his dead friends 'round

He's painted all the walls red

To remind them they're all dead"

 

Hard Believer- First Aid Kit

 

"Well I see you’ve got your bible your delusion imagery

Well I don’t need your eternity or your meaning to feel free

I just live because I love to and that’s enough you see

So don’t come preach about morality that’s just human sense to me"

 

Casimir Pulaski Day- Sufjan Stevens

 

"Oh, the glory that the Lord has made

And the complications when I see his face

In the morning in the window

 

Oh, the glory when he took our place

But he took my shoulders and he shook my face

And he takes and he takes and he takes"

 

Fangs- Man Man

 

"Raised and braised on mysticism

Like Jesus flesh and cataclysmic

Punishment for following

The hunger her pleasure creates"

 

Comfort Eagle- Cake

 

"We are building a religion

We are building it bigger

A limited

Edition"

 

God, Paper, Scissors- Paul Cusick

 

"You never come down here. 

You never show yourself, is it fear? 

You never prove yourself. 

When you're needed you disappear"

[hockeyfan70]

Sufjan Steven's album Carrie And Lowell is a great album to listen to in the process of grieving.

 

Casimir Pulaski Day is one of my favorite songs of his. I love when he sings "we pray over your body but nothing ever happens."

 

Also, check out Quiet Company's "We Are All Where We Belong". Another entire CD that talks about deconversion.

[FlowerDemon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTOffYj5TxU

[FlowerDemon]

 

Dear God, hope you get the letter and
I pray you can make it better down here
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image
See them starving on their feet
'Cause they don't get enough to eat from God
I can't believe in you

 

Dear God, sorry to disturb you but
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image
See them fighting in the street
'Cause they can't make opinions meet about God
I can't believe in you

Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?

And the Devil too!

 

Dear God don't know if you noticed but
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book
And us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look
And all the people that you made in your image
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain't, and so do you

Dear God
I can't believe in
I don't believe

 

I won't believe in heaven or hell
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well
No pearly gates, no thorny crown
You're always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown
Those lost at sea and never found
And it's the same the whole world 'round
The hurt I see helps to compound
The Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody's unholy hoax
And if you're up there you'll perceive
That my heart's here upon my sleeve
If there's one thing I don't believe in

It's you
Dear God

[Lilith666]

I found a couple by Black Veil Brides that I wish I had known in the midst of my going-to-hell panic after deconversion:

 

"Saints born together to fight against their holy fables

The streets are where we pray

Hymns for the lonely, wretched and forgotten

The feeling in our hearts won't ever fade away

 

(refrain) We stand tall, united

Watch them fall, divided

Break the chains and now we'll show them all

 

Fight for all you know with your back against the wall

Stand against the liars

Stronger than before, when your life becomes a war

Set the world on fire (ends)

 

Sing out united against the ones you left in hatred

Our message of today

Like children crying when all they knew was dying

We will raise our flags up

It's time for them to pay

 

(refrain)

 

So sing it loud, you hold the key

We're the rebels and we're free

It's time to burn all that you see

Now the world belongs to me

 

(refrain)

 

Proud in all you are

Showing every scar as your badge of honor

When you can't take anymore of what they're living for

Set the world on fire"

-"Set the World on Fire"

 

"Through sadness you have taught us to be one with the crowd

Unveil the sacred order, hymns of falling down

You told the greatest stories of love and bleeding crowns

But to the sick and hungry, you cannot be found

 

(refrain) We are young and we are strong

Through strength in self we become

Something more than they can be (favorite line!)

I raise my heart and say

 

That I won't believe this lie

I know there's something more inside

When darkness is all you see

This is our sweet blasphemy (ends)

 

Silence the crooked holy, unchain the tied and bound

No time for allegory, one true reigning sound

Unite the lonely mourning, a simple servant now

We are the only glory, hear us screaming loud

 

(refrain repeats)"

-"Sweet Blasphemy"

[supernova999]

Oh my.  These songs probably did more to cause my deconversion than anything since they actually made me question the reasonableness of my beliefs.  And they are country/folk artists to boot which I found refreshing.

 

Iris Dement - Let the Mystery Be, The Night I learned How Not to Pray, There's a Whole Lotta Heaven

 

Todd Snider - If Tomorrow Never Comes, Happy New Year

[Guest Les]

I like the song Dust by Augustana..

 

So go on and tear it up;
Black and cold with the dust
'Cause I believe in the Lord..
But he don't show up anymore...

[Voice]

I don't want to post lyrics to this, but System of a Down has come to my attention again. I'm not sure what to think of this. I do like it.

[SinEater]

Haha, Voice, Chop Suey is a fav of mine.
 
I recommend Kill Your Heroes by AWOLNATION.

[diggindiddy]

Natalie Imbruglia, Torn :

 

I'm all out of faith
This is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor

Illusion never changed
Into something real
I'm wide awake and I can see
The perfect sky is torn
You're a little late, I'm already torn

[miamia]

Hopsin-ill mind of hopsin 7.

IT's fuckin good. Really powerful. You can tell in his interview about the song he is not a hardcore atheist, more of an agnostic. really intelligent dude. The song is gut wrenching, In a good way. it's so real

 

Isn't there like, a term for this stage of deconversion or whatever?what he portrays in the song?

[miamia]

I don't want to post lyrics to this, but System of a Down has come to my attention again. I'm not sure what to think of this. I do like it.

SOAD <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[Orbit]

Bob Marley - "Cause I feel like burning a church

                       Now that I know

                       The preacher is lying"....

 

from "Talking Blues"

[Voice]

Natalie Imbruglia, Torn :

 

I'm all out of faith

This is how I feel

I'm cold and I am shamed

Lying naked on the floor

 

Illusion never changed

Into something real

I'm wide awake and I can see

The perfect sky is torn

You're a little late, I'm already torn

This is one of my favorite songs. I got pretty good at it on the drums.

[diggindiddy]

Linkin park - One step closer

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlCC1GOwFw

 

Roooock

[Storm]

Porcupine tree - Prodigal

 

"Prodigal"
 

I don't know whose side I'm on
I don't think that I belong round here
If I left the stage would that be wrong?

I tried to find myself a better way
I got religion but I went astray
They took my money and I lost my faith

Rain keeps crawling down the glass
The good times never seem to last
Close your eyes and let the thought pass

I tried the capsule and I tried the smoke
I tried to aid escape like normal folk
But I never seemed to get the joke

These are my old clothes
This is a new low
This is my blood flow
This is my headstone

I spend my days with all my friends
They're the ones on who my life depends
I'm gonna miss them when the series ends

Rain keeps crawling down the glass
(Pull yourself together)
The good times never seem to last
(You know it's not so bad)
Close your eyes and let the thought pass
(Close your eyes and let it pass)

 

 

 

[♦ nivek ♦]

Shaved my beard. Cut odd twin pony tails, down to pocket bottoms back of 501's. Got all serious with "it", believed, tried to fit in, did all of that proper things. Fell for a pretty, smart religious girl.  

 

Put my Panhead in storage, all but forgot how to ride being a "good dawg" for the People..

 

Few jobs later, some shitty times overseas, gawhd failed to do his part of deals made.

Changed engine oil, dumped some 100 octane gas in Pan's tanks, left.

 

Bob Seger "Roll Me Away"

 

 

Words and music by Bob beger

 

 

Took a look down a westbound road,
Right away I made my choice
Headed out to my big two-wheeler,
I was tired of my own voice
Took a bead on the northern plains
And just rolled that power on

 

Twelve hours out of mackinaw city
Stopped in a bar to have a brew
Met a girl and we had a few drinks
And I told her what I'd decided to do
She looked out the window a long long moment
Then she looked into my eyes
She didn't have to say a thing,
I knew what she was thinkin'

 

Roll, roll me away,
Won't you roll me away tonight
I too am lost, I feel double-crossed
And I'm sick of what's wrong and what's right

 

We never even said a word,
We just walked out and got on that bike
And we rolled
And we rolled clean out of sight

We rolled across the high plains
Deep into the mountains
Felt so good to me
Finally feelin' free

Somewhere along a high road
The air began to turn cold
She said she missed her home
I headed on alone

 

Stood alone on a mountain top,
Starin' out at the great divide
I could go east, I could go west,
It was all up to me to decide
Just then I saw a young hawk flyin'
And my soul began to rise
And pretty soon
My heart was singin'

Roll, roll me away,
I'm gonna roll me away tonight
Gotta keep rollin, gotta keep ridin',
Keep searchin' till I find what's right

 

And as the sunset faded
I spoke to the faintest first starlight
And I said next time
Next time
We'll get it right

 

[Fretbuzz]

 

Just discovered this old tune a few months back - fantastic lyrics and funny tree analogy: "Don't stay up there Grandma, or I'll shake you and your old time religion right off that branch!"