Good distinction, guestST. You hit the nail on the head, at least for me.

Unlike Pete, when I sing religious music, I am not singing from a place of religious conviction or belief, but am singing from a place of emotional conviction from the awareness of of the human imperative toward the "will for meaning," as Viktor Frankl put it.

Musket, I understand that many of these above the line threads are generally considered the territory of performers, and so I mostly stay out of them. But rest assured that many, many, many people throughout the world sing to sing and for the joy or solace or connectedness it brings - in the shower, in the car, on the porch, alone late at night, or over the grave of a long-buried loved one - no ears to hear other than the singer's own. Singing is not the strict provenance of the performer.

Music is sound. Sound is universal. Music is universal.