There’s a relatively well-known quote of Dylan’s regarding the “religion” subject, which he gave to Newsweek in 1997 (reproduced at this link):

Here’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else. Songs like “Let Me Rest on a Peaceful Mountain” or “I Saw the Light”–that’s my religion. I don’t adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.

Donald Rumsfeld, in an interview which is airing on Fox News, has this exchange:

Q: You know, we’ve heard President Bush talk about his faith, and how it factors into his job. I’ve never heard you talk about yours. Are you a religious man?

Rumsfeld: Interesting. Well, we are, our family is. We go to church and we certainly have a faith that’s ours. And I guess each person handles it in a way that they’re comfortable with. But …

Q: (interrupting) Does it factor into how you handle your job …?

Rumsfeld: … but if we can’t get to church for some reason on Sunday, I tend to play country gospel music –

Q: You do?

Rumsfeld: I do. And that gets me in the mood. You bet.

How about that?

I bet he loves The Great Atomic Power by the Louvin Brothers.

Are you ready
For the great atomic power?
Will you rise and meet your Savior in the air?
Will you shout or will you cry
When the fire rains from on high?
Are you ready for the great atomic power?

Maybe he’d like this too — although it’s a very rough-edged version — click here for a sample of Dylan doing the Hank Williams tune House of Gold in Athens, Greece, in June of 1989.

I’d rather be in a deep dark grave
And to know that my poor soul was saved
Than to live in this world in a house of gold
And deny my God and doom my soul.

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