The great star-spangled experiment is over at Goshen College. The college has decided to stop playing an instrumental version of the national anthem at sporting events, followed by a peace prayer:
Some were upset with the school's decision last year because the song's lyrics contain references to using war and military might to defend the country.
Art professor John Blosser told The Goshen News that there is much national pride at the school, but that most people aren't going to blindly accept what the country does.
School officials have said discussions about whether to change the policy began in September 2008 when the athletic department asked school president James Brenneman to reconsider the school's stance.
Goshen is a private school and has the obligation to its present and former faculty and students to stay true to its sponsoring church's pacifist traditions, so more power to them. The whole process has been very open and inclusive in a refreshing way, and it would have been fun to be around there lately just to take part it what seem to have been lively debates. Here's the news release from the college, and here' a page of resources giving much of the hisory of the decision-making process.
My contribution to the debate is that pacifism and violence should face the same kind of scrutiny. It's easy to justify violence to defend oneself or immediate family, less so the further removed the actions are from self-protection -- taking sides with one neighbor against another, for example, and right on up to war, justifying violent action against a whole country. Pacifism is likewise more justifiable the closer it is to the person holding the views. If I'd rather be a slave or oppressed subject than fight for my freedom, that's my choice. It's something else again to advocate that the whole country should lay down its arms rather than resist the tyrants.
Personally, I like having "The Star-Spangled Banner" as our anthem instead of "American the Beautiful" or some other more tuneful, less hostile song, not in spite of the references to war but because of them. We have borders that need to be defended and ideas worth fighting for -- that's what a country is, and its anthem should recognize that reality.
