Casualties of Faith

I posted about the whole current Christian vs. Muslim "holy war" that's been exacerbated by the U.S. and Israel on my socio-political blog.

So, out comes this new song. I constructed this one a little differently than I normally do, laying out the chord changes first, then working out some simple melodies before really thinking about the arrangement and then finally, matching words with the melodic rhythms. The result is a working draft that doesn't keep changing around every time I sing it. Once I record the bedrock of the tune, then I'll feel comfortable with making changes here and there - but I wanted it to be easy to sing, at the same time that it's making its point. I'm recording a basic version today with dulcimer and a cool hand-drum that Jae brought back from the Dominican Republic, but here are the lyrics:

Casualties Of Faith

one goes down in a hail of bullets
while another one gets the blade
one is hung from a tree in the village
a victim of the crusade
it was an early morning raid

wasted lives, ill-gotten gain
religion causing so much pain
I'm just sayin'

CHORUS

what we have in common
is the fallen world we live in
can't you see?
one piece of the puzzle
as we struggle
to get around all this hostility
how can the righteous assassinate
these casualties of faith?

Christian mobs burning homes of the Muslims
Indonesia is ablaze
In Africa, Muslim takes a gun, shoots a nun
which the extremists loudly praise
it never ceases to amaze

don't you find it rather odd
that they're killing for God?
I'm just sayin'

CHORUS

what we have in common
is the fallen world we live in
can't you see?
one piece of the puzzle
as we struggle
to get around all this hostility
using a prayer to intimidate
these casualties of faith

BRIDGE

what will it take to stop the killing?
how many murders must we grieve?
each side sees the other as the villain
and the so-called righteous continue to fight
in the names of the Gods they believe


CHORUS

what we have in common
is the fallen world we live in
can't you see?
one piece of the puzzle
as we struggle
to get around all this hostility
by looking away, we participate
in these casualties of faith

Copyright © 2006 J.O.B. Entertainment Inc.


I could've worked the Israel/Palestine situation into this, but the song was specifically inspired by the recent spate of killings inflamed by the Pope's comments on Islam. I'm not taking any sides - those who are doing the killing are wrong, wrong, wrong.