{"id":12922,"date":"2007-09-18T14:55:27","date_gmt":"2007-09-18T18:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/12922.html"},"modified":"2007-09-18T14:55:27","modified_gmt":"2007-09-18T18:55:27","slug":"rewriting-god-bless-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/rewriting-god-bless-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewriting ‘God Bless America’"},"content":{"rendered":"

I noted earlier<\/a> that the top four Republican presidential candidates angered the religious right by blowing the first-ever “Values Voter” debate. But my friends at Right Wing Watch reminded me that one of the most interesting parts of the debate wasn’t who was there, or what was said, but rather, the song that got the event started<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

The clip is a rendition of “God Bless America,” sung by the Church of God Choir, from Springfield, Ohio, but in this case, the lyrics were rewritten. Instead of a song about “the land that I love,” and “home sweet home,” this version condemns<\/i> the country. The song received an enthusiastic and positive response from the conservative Republicans on hand for the event.<\/p>\n

I know it gets tiresome to hear “if this were a Democrat…” but in this case, I think it’s particularly appropriate. I’m trying to imagine the response if a number of progressive activists groups got together to host a presidential candidate forum, and to kick things off, they sang a rewritten version of “God Bless America” that disparaged the United States and reprimanded the American people.<\/p>\n

Do you suppose this would be the kind of thing that might be on Fox News? Maybe the presidential candidates on hand for the event would be asked whether they agreed with the song’s lyrical condemnation of the country? Perhaps the far-right would be apoplectic about the “blame America first” crowd? Maybe we’d hear a few words about how “God Bless America” is fine the way it is, and doesn’t need to be rewritten to serve a radical political agenda?<\/p>\n

Just asking.<\/p>\n

The lyrics of the song are posted below. Don’t read them on a full stomach.
\n
\nWhy should God bless America?
\nShe\u2019s forgotten he exists
\nAnd has turned her back
\nOn everything that made her what she is.<\/p>\n

Why should God stand beside her
\nThrough the night with the light from his hand?
\nGod have mercy on America
\nForgive her sin and heal our land<\/p>\n

The courts ruled prayer out of our schools
\nIn June of \u201862
\nTold the children \u201cyou are your own God now
\nSo you can make the rules\u201d
\nO say can you see what that choice
\nHas cost us to this day
\nAmerica, one nation under God, has gone astray<\/p>\n

Why should god bless America?
\nShe\u2019s forgotten he exists
\nAnd has turned her back on everything
\nThat made her what she is<\/p>\n

Why should God stand beside her
\nThrough the night with the light from his hand?
\nGod have mercy on America
\nForgive her sins and heal our land<\/p>\n

In \u201873 the Courts said we
\nCould take the unborn lives
\nThe choice is yours don\u2019t worry now
\nIt\u2019s not a wrong, it\u2019s your right<\/p>\n

But just because they made it law
\nDoes not change God\u2019s command
\nThe most that we can hope for is
\nGod\u2019s mercy on our land<\/p>\n

Why should God bless America?
\nShe\u2019s forgotten he exists
\nAnd has turned her back on everything
\nThat made her what she is<\/p>\n

Why should God stand beside her
\nThrough the night with the light from his hand?
\nGod have mercy on America
\nForgive her sins and heal our land<\/p>\n

(Reading from 2nd Chronicles 7:14) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land<\/p>\n

God have mercy on America forgive her sins and heal our land<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I noted earlier that the top four Republican presidential candidates angered the religious right by blowing the first-ever “Values Voter” debate. But my friends at Right Wing Watch reminded me that one of the most interesting parts of the debate wasn’t who was there, or what was said, but rather, the song that got the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}