50 Best Rock Songs About Religion

Rock Songs That Wrestle With Faith and Doubt

There’s a strange pulse running through rock music when it turns its gaze upward. It’s not always worship, not quite rebellion either, but something stuck in between. The kind of thing that sounds like confession through distortion, where guitars tremble under lyrics that ask for something—proof, forgiveness, maybe a reason to still believe. The air gets heavy, like someone cracked open a door to a church that never really closed, and the echoes still hum through every verse. Some tracks lean on scripture, others spit at it, but they all reach toward the same foggy sky that refuses to answer back.

Religion in rock isn’t a sermon. It’s a collision of faith and feedback, of choir-born voices lost in a crowd that sings along anyway. You can hear it in the way U2 builds an anthem out of longing, or how Black Sabbath twists sacred words into something raw and human. These songs carry that restless energy—half prayer, half protest. And while not every one of them directly preaches the theme, they still fit the feeling of wrestling with belief when the amps are turned high and the lights are too bright to see straight.

Some of the tracks here flirt with grace, others tumble into doubt and stay there. The line between sacred and profane gets blurry fast, and that’s where the good stuff usually lives. A few may come from pop, rock, country, and R&B songs that drift close to the same tension, the same uneasy spark that faith tends to leave behind. These picks circle that storm and let it ring out loud enough to rattle the stained glass. Here are the best rock songs about religion.

1. 'Spirit in the Sky' by Norman Greenbaum

2. 'Losing My Religion' by R.E.M.

3. 'Personal Jesus' by Depeche Mode

4. 'The God That Failed' by Metallica

5. 'Jesus Is Just Alright' by The Doobie Brothers

6. 'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison

7. '40' by U2

8. 'Dear God' by XTC

9. 'Stairway to Heaven' by Led Zeppelin

10. 'After Forever' by Black Sabbath

11. 'Jesus Christ' by Brand New

12. 'With Arms Wide Open' by Creed

13. 'Carry on Wayward Son' by Kansas

14. 'God Only Knows' by The Beach Boys

15. 'Hallelujah' by Leonard Cohen

16. 'The Cross' by Prince

17. 'Presence of the Lord' by Blind Faith

18. 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones

19. 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' by Bob Dylan

20. 'Sympathy for the Devil' by The Rolling Stones

21. 'God Am' by Alice in Chains

22. 'One of Us' by Joan Osborne

23. 'God Put a Smile upon Your Face' by Coldplay

24. 'God' by John Lennon

25. 'Kyrie' by Mr. Mister

26. 'Jesus Just Left Chicago' by ZZ Top

27. 'Angel' by Jimi Hendrix

28. 'Aqualung' by Jethro Tull

29. 'Only God Knows Why' by Kid Rock

30. 'The Logical Song' by Supertramp

31. 'Into the Mystic' by Van Morrison

32. 'Where the Streets Have No Name' by U2

33. 'Youth of the Nation' by P.O.D.

34. 'All God's People' by Queen

35. 'The Revealing Science of God' by Yes

36. 'Dear Lord' by Thin Lizzy

37. 'Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You' by The Bee Gees

38. 'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due' by Megadeth

39. 'Creeping Death' by Metallica

40. 'Hymn' by Jars of Clay

41. 'Jesus He Knows Me' by Genesis

42. 'Like a Prayer' by Madonna

43. 'The Boxer' by Simon & Garfunkel

44. 'Gotta Serve Somebody' by Bob Dylan

45. 'Adam Raised a Cain' by Bruce Springsteen

46. 'King of Kings' by Motorhead

47. 'When God Made Me' by Neil Young

48. 'God's Not Dead' by Newsboys

49. 'Sweet Water' by Beach Chapel

50. 'I'm So Sick' by Flyleaf