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Politics : The Left Wing Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: YlangYlangBreeze who wrote (3182)	1/17/2001 5:21:46 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6089

Hi joelle,(What a lovely name) Let me make sure I preface that this is not only ALL OPINION but an issue I wrestle with every time I hear a story like yours yesterday. I believe that we have gone too far in excluding anything with religious content from our education system. It's a slippery slope that cuts both ways, imo. First, a caveat- I"m a musician- studied piano for twelve years and classical voice for eight- so most of my life has been spent immersed in a great deal of church music, and I realize this prejudices me greatly. I view the church as the mother and nursemaid of our western musical tradition; it gave rise to chants, and then canons, to polyphony, added instrumentation, moved on to masses and cantatas. Many of our greatest operas are based on classical myths- Greek, Norse, biblical. Religion, like it or not, has often been the inspiration for man's ultimate creative efforts. Through the church, our greatest composers presented some of the most glorious musical works in our western repertoire. Folk music, the other trail (sometimes co-mingling) that can be followed through history, tells a simpler story of the lives of the people; church music expresses a spiritual development and an increasingly complex musical ability. When we remove everything that has religious affiliation or references, regardless of its other values, we run the risk of gutting much of our own musical tradition. I don't see how we can give our children the best education possible when we forbid them to perform or study the best that we have to offer. I think that should weigh heavily on us when we make these decisions. As for the Battle Hymn, which I happen to love, and which unarguably has a LOT of religious metaphor and references, it was written in a time where prayer and God were still a strong influence on the daily lives and actions of people. You didn't say how old your daughter was, but is she old enough to talk about what some people believe and why? Does she even notice the words? So often words are meaningless to kids! I've raised two sons, now 20 and 18, and their first years were spent as active members of a Lutheran Church and students at an Episcopal School. They both sang in an exceelent English boys'style choir performing- yup!- religious music. One is an outspoken atheist today, the other an agnostic. I'm not a licensed psychologist (though it was my major) but I really don't think exposure to some of these things in school is going to indoctrinate your daughter- I think it would take a lot more than the singing of a couple of hymns to do that or our children would be converting from one thing to another on an hourly basis. What I do believe is that by completely denying the existence of these works in our school system, we deprive all our children the chance to hear or perform some of the highest expressions of emotions of which man is capable. (Awkward sentence- sorry) I recently left a church choir because the music was so discouragingly AWFUL. Very contemporary, no classical. This means that the last bastion of my hopes that good music will still be given exposure is gone. Give 'em what they want. Or what they know. ANd if our schools no longer have them knowing the best..... Anyway that's my PERSONAL feeling about religious music. Which is entirely different from my feelings about prayer in school, or teaching creationism, or having a coach announce that the Athlete of the Year deserves it because he's a fine Christian boy (this happened at the last athletic banquet we attended) These areas are where we need to fight for separation. I'm just not sure I want to pretend that the musical products of religion weren't also some of the best we have made. BAby and bathwater again.