Dolly Parton Reveals Her Faith and Frustration: When Did We Lose 'In God We Trust'?

Country music legend Dolly Parton got candid in a recent interview sharing how she handles anger and how she feels about what is happening in politics right now. 

In a recent interview on TalkShopLive with Nancy O'Dell, Parton opened up her latest projects including her new album Rockstar, and her newest book Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestone.

Her album Rockstar, which will be released in November, will feature an array of artists including Lizzo, Kid Rock, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Sting, and Elton John.

But the 77-year-old says she felt "very led" to write one particular song on the album called "World on Fire."

The song opens and closes with these lines:

Liar, liar, the world's on fire
What you gonna do when it all burns down?
Fire, fire, burnin' higher
Still got time to turn it all around…

In one verse, Parton sings: "I don't know what to think about us / When did we lose 'In God We Trust'? / God Almighty, what we gonna do? / If God ain't listening and we're deaf, too?"

The song goes on: "Don't get me started on politics/ Now how are we to live in a world like this / Greedy politician, present and past...Now tell me what is truth / Have we all lost sight / Of common decency / Of wrong and right? / How do we heal this great divide? / Do we care enough to try?"

Parton told the TalkShopLive host that the song wasn't an attack on politicians but rather a way for her to express her frustrations with what is going on in the world.

"This was important [but] it wasn't political at all," she explained. "Though I did say greedy politicians, but that is all over the world...We are not paying attention. We are just letting the world burn down around us with all the greed and the hate. And it was all bottled up in me and I needed to say something because I felt like I should."

Parton was then asked how she handles moments when she gets angry. 

"I don't lose my temper, but I use my temper," Parton said. "Of course, I've lost it a few times, but it's not that I'm losing my temper, I'm trying to use it because sometimes there are just some people you have to speak up to. Because if they don't know, especially as a shock, for somebody like me to raise my voice to people, that's not what they're used to."

The Grammy Award-winning artist has openly shared how she leans on her faith in God to guide her. 

"My faith impacts everything that I do because I do believe that, through God, all things are possible," Parton told Fox News. "And so I always ask God to bless everything that I do and the people that I work with and to bring all the right things and right people into my life and to take the wrong ones out."

The iconic singer said she tries to "love through love" and emphasized the importance her faith has had on her life and career. 

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"I just think that my spirituality has been a guiding light in my life and my strength, really, in my creative energy," she said. "And my spiritual energy has really been a great force to keep me going all these years and still being productive."

Last December, Parton made headlines for her hit song, "Go to Hell" where she passionately rebuked the devil on national television. 

"Take your wars and your politics, your lust, and your greed, and go to hell in a handbasket, 'cause heaven waits for me," she sang. "You're a cheat, you're a liar, you're a scoundrel and a thief."

And Parton says her song "Don't Make Me Have to Come Down There" was inspired by a divine dream from God.

"I had a dream that God was standing on a mountain and looking down at us saying 'Don't make me come down there'," she continued. "It woke me up and I got up and started writing this song over a period of weeks and months."

In the song, she writes about "politics, earthquakes, erratic weather, pandemics, war, and hate" and urges people to "bridge the great divide" and to seek God in prayer.