Lydia McGrew at the Right Reason blog reports her discomfort about the Battle Hymn of the Republic and compares it to Dixieland:
Most Americans are familiar with the words of this "hymn":
...in the abstract I'd certainly rather be on the side whose ideals are expressed by the words of "Dixieland" than on the side whose ideals are expressed by the words of "The Battle Hymn." Think about it: What "Dixieland" says is that the singer loves his home region, that one of the reasons he loves it is because old times are not forgotten there, and that he intends to live and die there. What "The Battle Hymn" says is that God is really going to pound the people on the other side and that He is going to do so by means of a bunch of troops whose very army campfires are like holy altars. Yikes!But the goodness doesn't stop there. She goes on to draw a comparison to the Iraq war:
I'd rather not get involved in reading God's righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps of invading troops -- whether they're invading a foreign country or parts of their own. Acting as the terrible swift sword of the Lord and helping Him to trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored is a scary business, one we should be very reluctant to engage in.Maybe conservatism in America isn't quite dead yet!
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Blasphemy in Song
This past weekend, since it was the closest weekend to the Fourth of July holiday that we observe today, churches all across America resounded with patriotic songs. Although the wisdom of singing patriotic songs in church is itself a debatable proposition, there should be no debate in any church about uttering words of blasphemy, whether spoken or sung. Yet, the patriotic song that is perhaps the one most frequently sung in the churches of America — for the Fourth of July or otherwise — is the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." But this so-called hymn is no Christian hymn at all — it is blasphemy in song.Most Americans are familiar with the words of this "hymn":
More @ LRC
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Amen
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteHorace Smith has left a new comment on your post "The Creepy Battle Hymn of the Republic":
DeleteI will not sit where Lincoln's recruitment song is being sung.
Tell them to just wheel you out of there.:)
DeleteI had a long lunch today at the Country Buffet today. My wife struck up a conversation with a fascinating individual, named Don Roberts, who served in the Navy and whose father was bayonetted in France in WW I. I introduced myself with my real name. I haven't wrapped myself in anonymity for over thirty years. After a great lunch we got up and walked out.
ReplyDeleteAfter thirty-three years of belonging to an organization with Anonymity in its title, it is inconceivable to me that anonymity serves the cause of Freedom. Mr. Roberts and my wife were born on the same day. Who would have thought?
I guess I'll learn if Brock still posts my comments or if he has Snowden reporting on me.
Don Roberts told some great jokes. I told him one I have used for many years. "Whereas I used to run on alcohol, now I (still) walk on water." Heh.
:)!
Delete