There is a different side to Heidi Montag that you don't see on MTV's The Hills, the 21-year-old budding singer tells USA Today.

"I have been the most religious person since I was 2 years old. I always felt this crazy connection to God," says Montag, who identifies herself as "kind of non-denominational Baptist."

Montag -- who just released her latest single "Fashion" and frequently reads the Bible -- says she even wants to record a Christian album.

Click here to see Montag's No. 1 fashion obsession.

She adds that she once planned on devoting her life to God as a missionary in Africa. She and beau Spencer Pratt -- who just attacked Mary-Kate Olsen after she said he had a bad temper in high school -- will head there in August to "feed children and help build things." (Pratt noted that they could adopt a baby while there, but Montag said, "not right now. I think we'd be married before we do that.")

Despite Jesus teaching forgiveness, Montag says that rule likely won't apply to her relationship with Lauren Conrad.

"I don't think people are ever going to get that," she says of a reconciliation. (Still, she insists Conrad will "always have a place in my heart.")

Of Conrad's claim that Montag spread those sex tape rumors, Montag says: "God knows the truth in all of this, and at the end of the day, that is the only thing that matters. Jesus was persecuted, and I'm going to get persecuted, ya know?"

As for the new season of The Hills (the first of 19 episodes debut August 18), Montag says viewers will get to meet her old sister Holly, an aspiring filmmaker who once lived with her and Conrad.

See photos of Lauren and her BFFs.

"Holly and Lauren were inseparable for a while," Montag says. "But they stopped being friends when Lauren and I stopped being friends."

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