A Catholic's Response to "Take Me To Church"

The song "Take Me to Church" by the artist Hozier (rhyming with nosier) has hitherto been one of my favorite songs by said artist until I recently found out that it was written as a middle-finger at the Catholic Church for teaching that gay unions aren't the same thing as a marriage between a man and a woman. When I heard the song the first few times, I thought that "church" was meant as a metaphor for his lady-friend that he "worships," until I found out that it was not, in fact, meant as a metaphor for his lady-friend that he "worships," but a middle-finger at the Catholic Church for teaching that gay unions aren't the same thing as a marriage between a man and a woman.

My first instinct was to think, "Ok, now as a practicing Catholic, I can't listen to this song with a clear conscience unless I pretend it's still about what I originally thought," so I did that for a while and it was exhausting because I'd be listening to the song thinking, "it's a metaphor it's a metaphor it's a metaphor" and then a part of my brain would say, "no it's not! HAHAHAHAHA!" as anyone's would, which landed me in the soup and made the music very much less enjoyable.

But I have concocted a way to listen to "Take Me to Church" with a clear conscience as a practicing Catholic, which I am very happy about because while I disagree with Hozier's middle-fingeredness at the Church, I do enjoy his voice and the tune and the overall bluesy mood of his music.

Last fall, I listened to the audiobook of C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair, and have decided that if it's not my favorite Narnia book, then it's definitely in my top three (the other two being The Last Battle and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) partly because of the following speech by Puddleglum:

"We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnia as I can even if there isn't any Narnia."

This is what I try to think in response to the line, "Take me to church, I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies." Which is kind of insulting, now that I know what he's talking about. But I don't have to dismiss him and all of his music completely because he's not an evil terrorist who's going to burn in hell because he supports gay unions, he's just Fern from Charlotte's Web getting upset at her parents when she thinks a terrible injustice is being served. And before anyone accuses me of comparing gay people to pigs, let me assure you that I am not trying to compare them to pigs, I'm trying to compare Hozier to Fern.

And just as an interesting note, now when I listen to "Take Me to Church" and think of Puddleglum, I feel more grounded in my faith than ever because sometimes I like the things I love to be attacked so that I can defend them.

Unless you insult Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, 'cause then I'll just get pissed.

Good night!