God is Dead?

Of all the controversial titles (let alone singles from the first new studio album the band has done in years), Black Sabbath just HAD to pick something like this one. Of course, as always, there is much more to the lyrics and the video than what might be immediately obvious. The lyrics are as follows...

"Lost in the darkness
I fade from the light
Faith of my father, my brother, my Maker and Savior
Help me make it through the night
Blood on my conscious
And murder in mind
Out of the gloom I rise up from my tomb into impending doom
Now my body is my shrine

The blood runs free
The rain turns red
Give me the wine
You keep the bread
The voices echo in my head
Is God alive or is God dead?
Is God dead?

Rivers of evil
Run through dying land
Swimming in sorrow, they kill, steal, and borrow. There is no tomorrow
For the sinners will be damned
Ashes to ashes
You cannot exhume a soul
Who do you trust when corruption and lust, creed of all the unjust,
Leaves you empty and unwhole?

When will this nightmare be over? Tell me!
When can I empty my head?
Will someone tell me the answer?
Is God really dead?
Is God really dead?

To safeguard my philosophy
Until my dying breath
I transfer from reality
Into a mental death
I empathize with enemy
Until the timing’s right
With God and Satan at my side
From darkness will come light

I watch the rain
And it turns red
Give me more wine
I don’t need bread
These riddles that live in my head
I don’t believe that God is dead
God is dead

Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Wondering if we will me again
On the other side
Do you believe a word
what the Good Book said?
Or is it just a holy fairytale
And God is dead?
God is Dead
God is Dead
God is Dead
God is Dead

Right!

But still the voices in my head
Are telling me that god is dead
The blood pours down
The rain turns red
I don’t believe that God is dead
God is Dead
God is Dead
God is Dead
God is Dead"

SOURCE OF LYRICS: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+sabbath/god+is+dead_21054805.html

THE VIDEO ITSELF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhhOU5FUPBE

I'm sure there are many people who will have a knee-jerk reaction/aversion to the song just because of the title. That's typical of ANYTHING Black Sabbath has done in their long career. However, after reading the lyrics and watching the video, I know what Ozzy was really trying to say.

The video features all kinds of imagery of savage behavior: War, Human suffering (especially women and children) bad news in a financial newspaper and all the things about life that can make you hopeless. There's even a scene where People rise up against an authoritarian police state at the end, almost as if the band is encouraging us to take this action. Considering how the Obama Administration has behaved itself, I'm not even slightly surprised that anyone would have that thought in their minds. My life under that guy hasn't been very pleasant either. (No, not every bad thing that has happened to me since Inauguration Day 2009 has been his fault.) At the same time though, he constantly talks about light eventually shining through the dark. Eventually, the nightmare will be over. Things will get better, as they always do.

Like Ozzy, no matter how bad things get, I don’t believe that God is dead.

- Lord Publius