This is a short analysis of the Nine Inch Nails song Heresy.
DISCLAIMER
ANALYSIS
First, one should keep in mind that this is a song from The Downward Spiral album, a concept album about a man's fucked up life, and has a slightly different meaning in relation to the rest of that album. Here, though, it'll be analysed on its own.
he sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to see
Since this song is about religion (hence the name Heresy), I see this line as some persons unwillingness to see the Truth, or at least to see things from a different, sometimes harder perspective. They simply look away.
he tries to tell me what I put inside of me
The Christians trying to tell atheists and other religious groups about the sin they carry inside by not having faith in God.
he's got the answers to ease my curiosity
This is a tough one... If you look at it in its context (namely, the entire album) it might be that the man, in all his despair, is trying to seek some answer, consolation and meaning in his life. Or perhaps the man's curiosity is to find out how some people can believe in a god.
For this project, i chose to interpret it so, that "he" simply has an answer to faith, albeit a very skewed and abused one; namely power through religious belief.
he dreamed a god up and called it Christianity
People arguably need something to believe in, aspecially if the Truth is so hard. To give a simple answer to the question "why," it's much easier to just say "because God said so," therefore not having to question Truth.
chorus)
god is dead and no one cares
A little play on Nietszche's famous quote "God is dead." I interpret it that God died because no one cared; they simply forgot him.
if there is a hell I will see you there
Christian religion have (arguably?), throughout the ages been abused as power, I simply see it as a reference to this.
he flexed his muscles to keep his flock of sheep in line
In the Bible, God destroyed entire cities simply because the majority of the people there didn't believe in him. And a major message in the Bible is "be nice, or God will punish you." He keeps his people in check through fear and reward.
he made a virus that would kill off all the swine
There are some Christian groups today that claim that God created AIDS to destroy all black and/or homosexual people, or, in this case all the non-believers; the swine.
his perfect kingdom of killing, suffering and pain
demands devotion, atrocities done in his name
If a god only exists because of his believers, he would, probably, demand devotion for fear of seizing to exist. The atrocities meaning (from a non-Christian's POV) looking down, frowning upon, punishing or the likes thereof, people with different faiths (if any).
(your god is dead)
god is dead
and no one cares)
and no one cares
drowning in his own hypocrisy)
if there is a hell
see you)
i'll see you there
you there)
The faint, almost
echo-y (yes, it's a word) voice in the background could be seen as though the person isn't alone anymore in his
critisism, that more has
joined in his rage against spiritual misguidance.
Drowning in his own hypocrisy could reference either to the other
man (representing the god's believers) or to the god himself, starting to believe his own
lies.