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I don't think people have the vocabulary yet to challenge it in a fashion that's not going to appear offensive and disrespectful. I also think that the hierarchy doesn't really give a s---. They don't really want to hear what might serve people better, or what might serve them better as a business.

In Ireland, people felt so let down by the sexual abuse scandals in the church, particularly by how the hierarchy of the church handled that, or rather mishandled it—years of trying to deny that it ever happened, and then years of trying to buy the families to shut them up.

So, many people in Ireland have become very disillusioned with Catholicism. For the most part, they don't believe that Catholicism gives a s--- about them, and therefore they don't give a s--- about Catholicism.

Is that why you ripped up a picture of the pope on Saturday Night Live?

O'Connor Oh, yeah. It only came to light in the States that there had been abuse of children within the church in [the U.S.], ten years after it came to light in Ireland—which was around the time that this happened on Saturday Night Live. Americans couldn't possibly believe that these things were going on in the church.

The problem is that many of the priests think they are God. But God and religion are two different things. I also believe the Catholic church has had a massive crisis of faith for the past 15 years or so. If the priests believed in God and they had done their job right, they would've fessed up immediately about the sexual abuse stuff.

The reason they were afraid to fess up is because they knew their congregations would slaughter them, which means they haven't taught forgiveness—they haven't actually taught the Christian lessons to their own congregations. If they had taught forgiveness and understanding, and really been honest and said, "We f---ed up here, help us out," people would have a lot more respect for them.

If they believed in God, they would've gone through this sexual abuse scandal a lot easier because they would've actually asked and employed God in order to sort things out. So they're still swimming through it with no life support.

OK, let's move on to your new album, Theology. You've recorded pop, folk, reggae, and world music. Why make a religious album now?

O'Connor I wouldn't necessarily call it a religious album. I would say it's a theological album. The record is largely based around the books of the prophets and some Psalms. Loads of different religions yap, yap, yap about God said this, God said that. A lot of people interpret what they think God says. But the only time God actually speaks for himself is in the books of the prophets. That's what kind of interests me. I'm interested in the idea of separating God from religion.

Part of wanting to make a record is that I get pissed off looking around the world and seeing a lot of things that are going on, violent things, particularly because of how a few people interpret particular Scriptures. I don't believe God supports war or the use of violence. I wanted to dig out Scriptures that would show the opposite to be true.

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