This is a long one... split in 4's?

As I'm sitting here thinking about the correlation between music and religion, I can only think of the number of bands that I listen to that are driven by a religion. Bands like Underoath, The Rocket Summer, MxPx, Blessed By A Broken Heart, Relient K, and then bands that I don't listen to... Switchfoot, Creed, etc.

There's plenty of religious influence in music, whether it's meant to be a major factor in songwriting or not. In a Northstar song, the singer says "This Jezebel is bleeding from a place that can never be repaired."

Jezebel is in the Bible, but Northstar is far from a religious band.

Now I know that religious music is totally different than music that has been influenced by religion. I can think of plenty of bands that use words that usually are connected with religion such as Faith, songs involving someone to Save, Redemption, Forgiveness, basically every theme of the religious texts.

I, myself, have written songs about faith (which I seem to lack recently). But by no means to I mean to portray the same effect as religion. Religion gives hope to those who need it (my definition) and music just gives people something to think about concerning their lives.

I've been changed by music. Religion has never directly changed my life. I have never gotten the feeling of resolution from religion, but music could cure cancer in my body. I swear.

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Cut to the core
Where it's brutal as all hell.
But see me on the surface
Where I'm hopeless and still.

I lie. I do.
Couldn't deny it if you asked me.
And if I told you what you wanted to hear,
It'd be a lie, wouldn't it?
Cuz I could never be altruistic.
I'm so self-conscious... aren't I?
You tell me.
You tell me.

I just wanna give myself away,
Cuz it'd be so easy, I'd be so easy.
Just take this paper-drawn version
Of my heart and we can lie to eachother.
Like we meant it.
As if we meant it.

You tell me...

You tell me.
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I think I'm bipolar. I moodswing way too much and there's no in between. Optimism... 4 seconds later, "The life I lead is pointless." And then it stays like that forever. Maybe that's manic depressive? I don't know, I'm a ****ing mess though.
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You've got that look in your eyes.
I've got that feeling in my stomach.
That says any second now I'm the victim, you're the victor.
I'm the hunted, you're the hunter
And I'm losing ground steadily.

They say there's safety in numbers,
But I panic in a crowd,
And if it's really so encouraging
Why do I feel so singled out?
I guess they questions keep on coming
With the flooding of the blood
To hit my brain just like a brick wall
But it always feels so accomplishing.

You've got that skip in your step
That says you're playing games with me.
You're running circles, and I'm dizzy
But I can't turn my back, and you know it.

They say if I believe it I can do it
Well what's there to believe in
When you're trapped inside a corner
In a room you've never been in.
The questions keep on coming,
With the ever dying fear
Of how will I move on,
Cuz I know I won't make it that far.

They call me the Father,
The son, and the holey human spirit,
Of an idea once believed in
But now I've got nowhere to go.