@DoDapper Nice...thanks for the info and links.

Josh Ritter has a lot of songs with impressive focus and wordplay upon religious cynicism,

Girl in the War.

"Peter said to Paul, 'You know all those words we wrote? Are just the rules of the game, and the rules are the first to go. ... the keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom. ... I got a girl in the war, Paul, ... If they can't find a way to help her, they can go to hell."

Harrisburg.

"Romero got married ... in Our Lady of Immaculate Dawn. Could have got married in the revival man's tent, but there ain't no reviving what's gone. ... It's a long way to Heaven, but it's closer to Harrisburg, and that's still a long way from the place where we are. And if evil exists, it's a pair of train tracks ..."

Thin Blue Flame.

"And so it was I saw behind / Heaven's just a thin blue line. / If God's up there, he's in a cold dark room. / The heavenly host are just the cold dark moons. / He bent down and made the world in seven days, / And ever since he's been a-walking away. / Mixing with nitrogen in lonely holes / Where neither seraphim or raindrops go. / I see an old man wandering the halls alone ||| ... ||| It's a Bible or a bullet they put over your heart. / It's getting harder and harder to tell them apart. The days are nights, and the nights are long. / Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs. / And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign, / Get missiles from so high they might as well be divine. / And now the dogs are howling at your door, / Singing 'bout vengeance like it's the joy of the Lord. ||| ... ||| If what's loosed on earth will be loosed up on high, / It's a Hell of a Heaven we must go to when we die, / Where even Laurel begs Hardy for vengeance, please, ||| ... ||| Sings kiss thee Hardy this poisoned cup. ||| ... ||| The suffering verbs put to sleep in the night, / The future descending like a bright chandelier, / The world just beginning, and the guests in good cheer. ||| ... ||| In Royal City I fell into a trance, / 'Cause it's hell to believe there ain't a hell of a chance. ||| ..."