So I went to Songfacts. I put in "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. I'm a non-religious person, but have always found the song to be beautiful and assumed it had [positive] religious connotations.
Turns out, it's about a member of the Smashing Pumpkins OD'ing on Heroin. The "Angel" is the Heroin, making the addict feel better. Furthermore, Mrs McLachlan is a bit of a militant de-theist / negative agnostic. Which is fine, but just shows the assumptions I'd made about the song and it's writer that I was surprised.
It's probably the most "beautiful" song I've ever heard, happened to hear it on the way home today and so I looked it up. I guess that's the crazy part about songs. It's beautiful. It's incredibly dark. It's an addict's hell and a human's hope. I felt cheated, at first when I learned what it's about, but a half-hour later I'm feeling better about knowing the "truth" behind the song. I can now enjoy it on different levels.
I was initially uncomfortable with something I'd considered "sacred" in my own way being a kind of tongue-in-cheek counter point to the religious imagery. Kind of like finding out a love song is actually a song about a stalker [Every Breath You Take - The Police] and finding out it's super popular at weddings.
But then I remembered it's totally something I would do, in her space, though without the anger at religion in general. So maybe not that particular celestial being, but... anyhow. Rambling.
I blame it on the concussion of being kicked in the head by that discovery. So... Thanks? to you, Master Squeaker, for my current disturbed state of mind.