A Massachusetts elementary school has dropped plans for students to sing songs at a school presentation after parents objected to a change in the lyrics of a popular patriotic song.
Parents tell WFXT-TV (http://bit.ly/HfR02t) that children at Stall Brook Elementary in Bellingham were taught to sing “We love the USA” instead of “God Bless the USA” during the chorus of the popular 1984 Lee Greenwood song.
Oh, I get that a group of Massachusetts liberals (if I may be redundant) would be nervous about God -- mentioning him might offend someone somewhere, heaven forbid. But why choose a song like Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" in the first place? Even rendered Godless, it remains an enthusiastic anthem of unapologetic patriotism. Aren't people who object to God also offended by that? Why didn't they pick some tame little unoffensive tribute to America like "America the Beautiful"? Oh, wait. God shed his grace on thee. Check.
I confess here I'm not that crazy about Greenwood's song, either. I think patriotism is a complex emotion and relationship, and that song simplifies the concept too much for my taste. It puts patriotism sonewhere at the level of "We're gonna win this football game because God is on our side." But guess what? I wouldn't have chosen that song and mangled it.
