Missionary

"man of many names but the motives stay the same/ my actions are a means to an end"

Aimed mainly at the church (think crusades), but I think speaks to anyone who uses the result to justify all the evil things the've done. Life doesn't work that way.

no no no, you're missing the point. this song is about imperialism in general, not just Christianity.

blacklungfever has a point, this applies just as well to patriotism or evangelical democracy as it does to christianity

although i love this whole song, my favorite lines are

"can you see the flag rising up beyond the smoke of dying authors burning books there was a problem with what they wrote the flag is hard to read because all flags start to look the same when covered w/the blood of the faithless and insane"

it's just so unbelievably well worded. every movement that's involved any type of social reform loses total meaning when blood is spilled.

This is one of my favorite Op Ivy songs (but they all kick ass). I think this song is about the hypocrisy of the church. They would send missionaries to "save the world" and when they dont succeed they just kill the people. The flag of "Christianity" that they used to defend their actions starts to look like the flags of all other groups who kill in the name of a cause. Its covered with the blood of the faithless and insane. Those that they could not convert. The dying authors burning books are dissenting opinions who are trashed. The church thought that they were supreme over all and those who questioned them deserved to die. "unconditional devotion unquestioning belief". "words carved in stone chiseled with sharpened bones of the ones who thought my righteousness was something to oppose". Killed those who dared to question the teachings of the church.

nice nice nice good ass song cuz im on my way to save the world

Chilling reference to christianity. the whole "on my way to save the world." brings to light so many events, the burning of protestants in England, the spanish inquisition. And when paired with the word, missionary, it brings to mind when the spanish started sending friars to the southwest to educate indians. "i want to see my name on the map" sounds alot like imperialistic spain when a shitload of focus was placed on religion in each region they conquered in the americas. "burning books", well a lot of this happened whenever overly religios types get carried away. overall very impressive socio-politcal commentary. if i tried writing lyrics about the same topic at jesse's age, mine would sound like pure shit compared to this.

It does apply to imperialism, but i think the song mainly did focus on Christianity as an example of imperialism. With lyrics like "words carved in stone, unquestionable belief, and covered with blood of the faithless". blacklung and tsk8r = both correct in a way. The best part about this song and Op Ivy is they did get specific. A lot of bands just generally say "fuck religion" but here you have a logical opposition to religion.