Dear Bob and Del,
I'm supposed to be doing my Christmas cards, but this is on my mind so-
Bob,The Good News is God is alive and well at our high school.
Del, the Bad News is God is alive and well at our high school.
The No News is that penni remains as confused as ever about the whole issue, although she has arrived at her own conclusions for this week, helped by her children, who seem to have a healthier and more rational acceptance of others than do a lot of adults.
The week has been filled with school activities. On Thursday we attended the Christmas Choir concert (CW is in the choir), a wonderful musical experience. The program ranged from light secular to the truly religious, concluding with Handel's Halleluia Chorus.
As a professional musician, I am absolutely comfortable with religious music and have stated so before. I don't believe that the greatest Western music ever written should be excluded from the academic. There was my little atheist up there singing about the Star of Bethlehem and the Baby in the Manger and praising God with King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Afterwards I said to him, "How did you feel about that?" He looked at me funny and said, "Mom, we sang about Santa Claus too and I don't believe in him. But wasn't that GREAT when the tenors went for the high A? ANd didn't you love the Rutter piece?"
For CW it was about music, not about being forced to sing about God. Now we have argued before that Christmas evolved from pagan holidays, which to me is irrelevant, but let's face facts, because in Western culture today, it is primarily about the birth of Christ. And the greatest music in our culture has sprung from that inspiration. The Western musical ear is developed to appreciate the tonal qualities of this music. Sure, exposure to Muslim chants is fine for education purposes, but we HEAR and experience and enjoy best that which is familiar to us and the best of that, at this time of year, is religiously inspired. You don't have to accept Christ to appreciate the compositional brilliance.
Anyway, my position on religious music being appropriate to the academic setting remains unchanged. Ammo, by the way, is celebrating Saturnalia in Latin and having a great time. Would this bother you, Bob?
Then yesterday we had the state football semi-finals. We lost but it was an incredible game--31-28. At the end of the game, the band played the school song and the players all stood at attention, holding hands. Then they all took off their helmets and knelt down in a group on one knee. They do this apparently after every game. The quarterback, a strong Christian, leads them in prayer. As moving as it was to WATCH this group of tired, banged up and disappointed kids join together like that, I was very uncomfortable. What if my son were on that team? What if he didn't WANT to pray? Sure, he doesn't have to---but even the action of kneeling and bowing your head is a coercion of sorts. Should this be happening? The motivation is commendable--it accepts the loss, it gives perspective to the game in the great scheme of things, I assume they thank God for letting them play hard, or whatever, but shouldn't all that be done by the Coach and the Captains without the religious context? This to me is a much clearer case of religion being imposed wrongly on others. Unlike the issue of religion in music, God is not an integral part of the football game; this was not associated with the game at all; it was public and it was flagrant and it was post facto. I thought it the opposite of what God intended anyway---it smacks of smugness and arrogance. Let those who choose to pray do so in a corner of the locker room later, quietly and privately.
So there you have it-- I believe what I saw this week was the good and the bad. I am torn, because religion in SOME WAYS is a grand tool for teaching values, but it's not the only tool; these values can be taught in other ways. Being a Christian is not the only way to be moral and I don't understand the Christian refusal to accept this simple fact. When Bob offered the alternative of being a Christian or getting pregnant and taking drugs, he indicated his true feelings about my being able to raise responsible, ethical children as a non-believer, despite his assurances in a prior post that he did not mean to insult me. If eternal life hinges on accepting Christ, then let that be a private, individual decision; don't condemn me as an ethical, thoughtful, caring person because I am not a reborn Christian. God will take care of that at the right time without your assistance. You and Emile seem rather to be on a personal vendetta and crusade than a loving mission and this my children can do without--make your beliefs appealing with actions and love, not with defensive words and attacks on other beliefs. |
