| O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! |  |
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
10 comments:
Ray, Thank You!
Also thanks for posting this.
I hope people read it because the words are significant. This and the Star Spangled Banner were both originally poems, intended to be read, understood, and savored. The later, accompanying music is not too bad but obscures the words, as do excessive images and color on web pages.
For my interpretation see "http://liberty4us.us/Liberty/PatrioticSongs/".
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
Greg, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your interpretation of these songs; however, I think you overstated your case in your analysis where you note that America was "founded by Protestant Christians."
The populace, as well as the creators and the signers of our great American documents were of many organized faiths - and some observed no organized religion at all - including Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of many of these documents.
The larger point here is that these founders created a secular society, irrespective of any one particular religion, and claims to the contrary are factually incorrect.
Anonymous 7:58p,
I think you misread my statement "America was founded by Protestant Christians". America was founded by innumerable Protestant Christian sects and individuals. Most came here as inheritors of the unique English variation of Western, Christian civilization. The "founding fathers" merely formalized what was already established over a hundred years by the people (Jefferson said as much).
These people came here as Europeans intent on establishing their own little colonies according to their own views. Over time they softened and discovered that life was better if they tolerated the heretics in the next town. It was wonderful to have distracted kings more than a month away by ship. We learned self-government because we had to; an opportunity almost unique in the world.
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
Hi Greg,
I have to agree with 7:58pm, the idea that America was founded to be a theocracy by any particular religion is not only factually incorrect, but unsettling, to say the least.
Our government has all along been "of the people, by the people and for the people," as President Lincoln so eloquently stated.
The attempts by some to make "their people" the "chosen people" when it comes to what ideas our nation was founded upon is not only undemocratic - but it also smacks of elitism and verges on totalitarianism.
America is (and was always meant to be) an egalitarian and secular society, where all men are created equal - not by any one religious group - but by the inherent and inalienable nature of human rights themselves.
May we continue to be a more perfect union:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9apMRjugSA&feature=youtu.be
No Greg. You clearly state in your analysis that "we need to understand that America was founded by Protestant Christians."
It's OK if you want to make that claim. It's OK to believe it, even when it is not true (as history, as well as your own words confirm above).
What isn't OK is to say "we need to understand that America was founded by Protestant Christians," which is an unequivocal statement, and then change your position when someone calls you on it without changing that initial statement in your analysis.
The Protestant Christians either did or did not found America.
Based on your new stance noted above, and the historical records, they did not.
I expect you to change your analysis to reflect both your modified position as stated above, as well as to reflect the historical record that verifies America's founding was both egalitarian and secular in nature.
Here is a video link that provides, in their own words, what many modern American leaders of various persuasions have to say on this subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb5IKpV0Uys&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
"You will do me justice to remember that I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave to himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it. The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other and trust I never shall."
Thomas Paine
I get the feeling that we are talking about different things.
I have been talking about the people that came here and settled in the hundred years before the Revolution. They were Europeans and had not yet discovered the America of the Declaration. Many at that time thought that they were founding little religious theocracies. Of course many didn't care one way or the other. Self-government caught on much earlier than religious freedom. I have not been talking about the "founding fathers" or any other much later figures. Nor am I talking about the formation of our government after the Revolution.
The original point was that interpretation of the word "God" in the understanding of the general public at the time the poems were published would be that of the Protestant Christian view of God whether they were Christians themselves or not.
Greg Small
Fort Bidwell
Darn...Greg has turned this patriotic tribute into a religious observance, so I'll add my two-cents:
There is but one God and He is known by many names - Silence Dogood.
My religion is simple. My religion is kindness - Dali Lama
I view it as a patriot's tribute to this country and a plea to God to sustain and guide our future. Don't think it was intended as a religious hymn in praise of God and to be sung in church. Best thing to do with religion is to keep it personal and in perspective. - Silence Dogood
I agree Silence. Greg wants to retroactively ascribe the reasons for why these patriotic tributes were written to one particular religion hundreds of years prior to their being jotted down.
Post a Comment