I can't fathom someone rejecting that this song has some religious meaning. But that doesn't mean it's the only layer of interpretation. Sure, it can have a deeper meaning about leaders, fame, power, relationships, etc. All of that can still stand at one level while it works on other levels at the same time. I haven't spent too much time developing the thought yet, but most of the line scream "THE CRUSADES!" at me. Jerusalem bells, Roman Calvary choirs (as in from the pope in Rome), ruling in that area is difficult, constantly shifting power built on weak foundations, some people loving one king, others of another faith loving another, revolutionaries, plotting, doing things in the name of good that one later realizes are wrong. While I might be over-reaching on some of these things, I don't think it's a stretch to attach an overt reaction to Christian history to this. Not necessarily Jesus Christ, but the way the church and kings of Jerusalem or the Pope behaved in the Middle Ages, etc. Something worth thinking about. The religious symbolism is there for a reason. Middle Age Christian history seems the best fit to me. But, to each their own interpretation, hence the beauty of music.