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Kris Kristofferson’s “Good Christian Soldier” Discusses the Conflict of Religion and War

by
  • Arden is a Senior Country Music Journalist for Country Thang Daily, specializing in classic hits and contemporary chart-toppers.
  • Prior to joining Country Thang Daily, Arden wrote for Billboard and People magazine, covering country music legends and emerging artists.
  • Arden holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Tennessee, with a minor in Music Studies.

Kris Kristofferson has always written great songs throughout his career. His hits “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down” are only a few of his well-written songs. However, his song Good Christian Soldier,” was by Texas songwriter Billy Joe Shaver written as an eye-opening track.

kris kristofferson, christian soldier
via Getty Images/Bettmann / Contributor

Behind Kris Kristofferson’s Good Christian Soldier

As mentioned above, this track is one of the few ones that the singer did not write himself. There was a bit of a controversy when it came down to the copyright of the song. Shaver shared that singer Bobby Bare managed to put himself as a co-writer even if he did nothing related to writing the song.

Shave explained:

“I went out of town and Kris Kristofferson recorded ‘Christian Soldier,’ and I come back in town, and he had changed it to ‘Good Christian Soldier,’ and took half of it. So I thought, Well, that’s all right. I don’t care. I can always write another song. I ain’t worried about that kind of stuff.”

The song explores the concept of religion and war. It was very timely as America was enduring the last few years of the Vietnam war where they were sending soldiers to fight.

kris kristofferson, christian soldier
via Screengrab from YouTube

What can the Soldiers do?

The track gives an insight into the conflict that the soldiers faced during the war. What if the soldiers value life because he/she was raised as a Christian? We all know that Christians are taught to value lives and to be the one to take it must have been very hard for Christian soldiers.

This Kris Kristofferson track must be heard by all to know the sacrifices of our soldiers. They somehow gave up their morals and what was taught to them because they believed that it was necessary during those times. Even today, soldiers are still put into these tough situations and we could only hope for a day where we don’t need to go to war.

Listen to Kris Kristofferson’s song here:

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