You are speaking to someone who has attended ceremonies for most of the biggest religious sects in the world. I have been best man at a Catholic wedding (I hate kneelers). I attended a gender-segregated Orthodox Jewish temple. I knelt on rugs and faced Mecca. I have watched them speak in tongues and handle snakes in Pentecostal ceremonies and attended Southern Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian (diet Jesus) and many other Protestant Churches, I have been in Hindu (that was the dominant one at my home for a while), Buddhist (via my aunt), Sikh and even Native American ceremonies. I believe out of the top 10 the only major religion I have not attended is African and I would like to see that at least once.
I find beauty in all of these ceremonies even if I have no faith in any of them. I agree that exposure is a good thing and my daughter is exposed to more than most. I already said I am a firm believer in multi-culturalism. However, this is not multi-culturalism and it is no accident that the children are being asked to learn Amazing Grace for Christmas. That is indoctrination and I will have no part in it.
That’s silly. Didn’t you learn about ancient Greek and norse religions in school?
You need to understand things like the underlying mythology in religions in order to understand the rest of the culture that surrounded it.
You can’t really understand Western Civilization, its literature, or its other artistic works without some basic understanding of the religions that formed the core of that civilization.
You are likely just taking for granted some reasonably deep internalization of that religious mythology… But if you had never been exposed to it as a child, you likely works have been at a disadvantage.
First, let’s remember, we are talking about songs that can be played on the recorder, and that won’t sound terrible when 3rd graders play them. I can’t imagine that the list of songs that won’t hurt your ears when played off key by a grader is terribly long.
And let’s face it, the song Amazing Grace is a beautiful song that has gone through a lot of changes and has it’s meaning change throughout it’s life time (according to Wikipedia, since I am not a music scholar).
So, instead of Amazing Grace, what song do you want your kid to play horribly?
I picked Silent Night partly to troll, but it is another example of a simple tune that’s easy to play (and yes, there are no religious versions of Amazing Grace, that wasn’t trolling, that was just me doing a quick Bing search).
Again, it’s easy to cast the first stone, but coming up with alternates that works is the difference between a concerned parent and an asshole.
Indoctrination of what? I mean, what is singing amazing Grace possibly going to do to your kid? Are they going to somehow become Christian from singing that song?
You’re being a zealot.
Amazing Grace is a Christian hymn. I has never been anything but.
I am not a music teacher. Comfortably Numb? Who Let the Dogs Out? F*** the Police?
Ah, the person who believes their children should be free of religion in a government institution is the zealot. The person who believes the Bible should be taught in public schools is calling someone else a zealot. That is mighty white of you. Oh the irony.
Not in primary or secondary education, you don’t. You can outline the basics of the religion in a few pages for the 0.0005% of American kids who don’t know what Christianity is.
I was responding to the idea that we should be reading the fucking bible in public school. That would simply turn into Daily Bible Study in large swathes of the American landscape, and let’s not pretend otherwise.
So, maybe the Music Teacher knows a thing or two about what a 3rd grader can play, and you don’t.
And the fact that you only know Amazing Grace as a Christian Hymn shows how closed minded your view is.
Amazing Grace is beautiful.
I would hope it could be included along with some other songs from different faiths to balance out the program.
And lego has an excellent point about offering solutions while pointing out problems.
Dude, third graders can’t play those songs on a recorder.
Yes. You are.
You are freaking out because of a song.
You are exactly like the religious zealots who freak out when their kids are exposed to other songs. Exactly like them. There is zero difference.
So now we start the redefinition of a thing to try to get our religion pushed into schools. Let us consult Wiki. Here is the start of the very first sentence
Amazing Grace is a Christian hymn…
Whoops.
This is akin to Christians trying to promote Intelligent Design as a scientific theory. You can keep repackaging the same shite in a new box but it still stinks in the end.
Yes, but that doesnt mean all 3,000 versions of it are Christian? Just like Cartman made a ton of mainstream songs Christian in South Park, it goes both ways.
But I get it. You are in full bunker mode. You need to be right.
So are they making the kids sing all the lyrics, or just play the tune? That would seem like the line worth defending to me.
Sarcasm is lost on the stupid.
You do realize this was the exact same argument some Christians used to try to prevent homosexual marriages, do you not? “You are trying to force your beliefs on us”. Preventing the promotion of a religion is not the same thing as promoting one.
[quote=“legowarrior, post:240, topic:136518”]I
can’t imagine that the list of songs that won’t hurt your ears when played off key by a grader is terribly long.
[/quote]
This is crazy - there are tons of easy to play songs. Here’s 8 off the top of my head: Twinkle Twinkle, Farmer in the Dell, Mary had a little lamb, Yankee Doodle, I’m a little teapot, 5 little ducks, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row your boat
In addition I bet you could find a zillion pop songs with easy to play hooks that would serve just as well as Amazing Grace.
It really is.
And you are angry that someone refuses to allow your invisible troll to be promoted to young impressionable children.
Once again we’ve got two sides all heated up and butting heads when (unless I’m way off base) there is primarily agreement between the parties. In other words, I imagine we could all get behind Granath’s goal with a little give and take… it’s just that we’re reacting negatively to his strident, uncompromising tone.
All the songs listed suck ass and have the same tune. My 5 year old thinks there boring already.
Ask you kids what kind of songs they like.