I believe that it IS possible to sing about something you don't believe in, in certain circumstances, and this is how: As a songwriter I of course always write about subjects that I am interested in, but occasionally I present them from the opposing view to mine. Two such typical songs are "Thieves of Innocence" and "Traitor's Love". In the first of these I take on the role of the child soldier, through his abduction and training to his eventual becoming a murderer and abductor of others. It's not that I support that viewpoint, but I find that the use of the "first person" allows me to highlight the horror of those events better. In "Traitor's Love" I take on the role of the "false patriot" who is in fact a traitor, against Jim Causley's accused "traitor" who is in fact the true patriot. So I rail on about God-given rights and how traitorous it is to criticise one's country, when in fact I, George, believe the opposite.

In both of those I become an actor - I act the roles I am in fact personally opposed to. So while I (George) don't believe in the message of the lyrics, the character I play (the child soldier, the bigoted traitor) does believe. And that character sings them with what I hope comes across as sincerely meant conviction. My own beliefs support the overall message of the song, though they are in fact opposed to the words of the characters I represent. It's the acting that allows me to do that. Actors have to do that, otherwise one could never get anyone to play the baddies.

Extrapolating from that to other songs including traditional, for example hunting songs - I am against hunting as a sport - I can sing them because for those 2-3 minutes I "act" the role of someone who likes hunting. But there has to be a redeeming something that allows me to sing them, as I am opposed to both the message of the song overall and the lyrics themselves, and in the case of such songs it is my wish to help preserve those songs from another era and a different set of beliefs.

Thinking about it, there may also be an element of "degree of abhorrence" at play here. In other words I can sing hunting songs to preserve them, but I cannot imagine myself singing pro-slavery ones. I can imaging myself singing atheist songs (being in fact a Christian, though I like to think a non-fanatical one who is happy to live alongside Muslims, Buddhists, pagans and even Richard Dawkins) but not pro-fascist ones. And so on.