How can this be?
Why is he the chosen one?

Saint gone astray
With a scepter and a gun

Learn to believe
In the mighty and the strong

Come bleed the beast
Follow me it won't be long

Listen when the prophet
Speaks to you
Killing in the name of God

Passion
Twisting faith into violence
In the name of God

Straight is the path
Leading to your salvation
Slaying the weak
Ethnic elimination

Any day we'll all be
Swept away
You'll be saved
As long as you obey

Lies
Tools of the devil inside
Written in holy disguise
Meant to deceive and divide
Us all

Listen when the prophet
Speaks to you
Killing in the name of God

Passion
Twisting faith into violence
In the name of God

Blurring the lines
Between virtue and sin
They can't tell
Where god ends
And mankind begins

They know no other
Life but this
From the cradle
They are claimed

Listen when the prophet
Speaks to you
Killing in the name of God

Passion
Twisting faith into violence
In the name of God

Hundreds of believers
Lured into a doomsday cult
All would perish
In the name of god

Self-proclaimed messiah
Led his servants
To their death
Eighty murdered
In the name of God

Forty sons and daughters
Un-consenting plural wives
Perversions
In the name of God

Underground religion
Turning toward
The mainstream light
Blind devotion
In the name of God

Justifying violence
Citing from the holy book
Teaching hatred
In the name of God

Listen when the prophet
Speaks to you
Killing in the name of God

Passion
Twisting faith into violence
In the name of God

Religious beliefs
Fanatic obsession
Does following faith
Lead us to violence?

Unyielding crusade
Divine revelation
Does following faith
Lead us to violence?

Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the coming of the lord
He is trampling out the vintage
Where the grapes of wrath are stored
He hath loosed the fateful lightning
Of his terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah.


Lyrics submitted by Idan, edited by Octavarium64

In the Name of God Lyrics as written by John Petrucci John Myung

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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In the Name of God song meanings
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53 Comments

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  • +5
    General CommentI really don't believe that this song targets Islam in particular. I think that the message to be taken from this truly great song is that mankind has no right to manipulate religion. I don't think any one religion is guilty here but possibly all orginized religions have had their vices. I am Catholic and I so I will be the first to point out the references to the crusades. littered about also are references to Islam and cults, as thunderbolt, YtseJam and enchiridion all point out. It criticizes those who "Blur the lines between virtue and sin", or those who twist religion for their own personal gain. This song is not an attack on God, but rather an attack on those who start wars, claiming to be carrying out His will (twisting faith into voilence in the name of God)
    JeffGodofBiscuitson July 20, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General CommentJust to correct Thunderbolt, this lyric was written by John Petrucci and not James Labrie.
    Idanon April 13, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General CommentAbout all the hypocrites who use fighting "for their God" as an excuse to do whatever they want. Amazing song...
    therealbobon March 07, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThis is my favorite song off of ToT by far. Best part is when the choir kicks in at the end and sings "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the backround.

    As for the meaning of this song, I feel it is about religious radicals who take it too far. Not just islam but all religions. All of the above have seemed to cover this idea pretty well.
    staggarellion December 09, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General CommentAlright, pigbenis666, apparently an atheist...

    You're saying that no God could have created us so that we evolve near close to a mathematical equation, and that no God could have created aliens that we aren't even sure exist?

    Sounds like a pretty shitty thesis to me. Sure, your points may be against Christianity. But not the existence of a God.

    You can only disprove the existence of a God that accords to the rules of a certain religion. (e.g. Christianity) Otherwise, can you really disprove the existence of there being a God? I don't think so. Not that easily.
    Panophobiaon January 16, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI agree with webdog230, it's obviously a song about radical cults, people claiming they're the Messiah but just using people and leading them astray.
    I don't think it's about the Book of Revelations, and I'm pretty sure it's not debating the existence of God!

    I'm not sure which cults he's talking about specifically, I did read it somewhere but I can't find it! The one thing I do know is it's not about the Jonestown Massacre as some people are hypothesising, it's a good shout but over 900 people killed themselves in that, not just 80.
    MrLeekon November 27, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General CommentAccording to an interview, James LaBrie wrote this with three specific religious leaders in mind. But who?

    As for "unconsenting plural wives", Joseph Smith is a possibility, although I don't know if they were unconsenting or how many there were. For more information, read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer. It's about fundamental Mormonism. Mohammed is also possible; he took plural wives, but not forty.

    I also suspect Jim Jones is one of them. He's the guy who led hundreds of people to their deaths in Guyana in 1978, ordering them all to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid when the US government investigated whether he was holding people against their wills.
    Thunderbolton April 11, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentAt first I thought that this song was a vieled diatribe against the radical and violent clergies in conteporary Islam. The three religious leaders would be Koresh (who, I think, did take multiple, very young, wives), Jim Jones, and the Heaven's Gate guy. These are, at least, the three faces that they put up on the projection screen at their concert in Denver (this was their encore... it rocked).
    enchiridionon June 09, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Commentthis is a dam good song!!!!!!! it rules!!!
    love metal sk8eron October 19, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI don't like the song....I don't like how they sound in this song...but the lyrics are fair...And you cannot prove there to be a God and you cannot disprove any God............Personally I don't believe in a God but that doesn't mean I have to insult people who do believe in there being a God...

    ~Vampy
    vampirella666on March 04, 2005   Link

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