Many viewed Black Sabbath as devil-worshippers in the 1970s because of their dark sound, image and lyrical content. However, the words of this song are pro-Christianity, proclaiming a belief in the existence of God and the Christian faith.
Geezer Butler, who was raised a Catholic, penned the lyrics. Speaking to Bass Guitar Magazine, he explained his thinking behind them. "A lot of it was because of the situation in Northern Ireland at the time," he said. "There were a lot of religious troubles between the Protestants against the Catholics. I was brought up strictly Catholic and I guess I was naive in thinking that religion shouldn't be fought over." "I always felt that God and Jesus wanted us to love each other. It was just a bad time in Northern Ireland, setting bombs off in England and such. We all believed in Jesus - and yet people were killing each other over it. To me it was just ridiculous. I thought that if God could see us killing each other in his name, he'd be disgusted."
The Christian heavy metal band Stryper covered this for their 2015 Fallen album. "We grew up on Black Sabbath," frontman Michael Sweet said. "It says something. Stryper covering a Sabbath tune causes much controversy. The lyrics are very interesting because it questions if Sabbath was a Christian band or not. They could have been the first Christian group if you take a closer look at those lyrics."
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