Can You Sing Your National Anthem? Pt. 3
Jul 28th, 2008 by Micah Tillman | Start the Discussion |
One by one our fellow congregants called for the mic, took it, and stood to congratulate the team (after their presentation).
It was good for them (the Colombian congregation) to see our team refuse — and explain their refusal — to sing the US anthem, said one responder.
Why it was good — what it was the Colombians were meant to have learned from this — wasn’t made clear.
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The same responder (I think) defended the team’s not singing — indeed, their admittedly not knowing — the US anthem by declaring its status irrationally-arbitrary.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was inexplicably chosen from a group of just-as-likely’s.
The following are a few you might have expected to be picked instead:
If pacifist Mennonites can’t sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” they couldn’t ask atheists, feminists, and anti-colonialists to sing: “God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.”
But that’s England’s national anthem (just with different words).
Anti-atheist.
“Battle Hymn of the Republic“?
Anti-pacifist.
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Perhaps we should go back to “the de facto national anthem from Washington’s time and through the 18th and 19th centuries.” [*]
Perhaps we should go back to “the unofficial national anthem of the United States until its replacement in 1931 by the officially mandated ‘Star-Spangled Banner’.”
Perhaps it’s time to take back “Hail, Columbia” from Dick Cheney.
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Read the lyrics before you commit.
[Next time: Part 4 -- What Have They Done?]
