The Dees Diversion: Attorney says if you let Shakespeare in, you have to let God in

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Attorney says if you let Shakespeare in, you have to let God in

The parents of a New Jersey second grader are suing the girl's school because they would not permit her to sing a religious song at her school talent show. She wanted to sing "Awesome God." A judge refused to compel the school to let her sing the song but is letting the lawsuit go forward. The attorney for the parents said that since a scene from "MacBeth" (witches, you know) was being done at the talent show, it should be okay for a song about God to be sung.

The song promotes sexism, Christianity, and creationism.

8 Comments:

I'm not so thrilled with those lyrics, but the girl may still have a good case. As I remember this area (admitted somewhat dimly), the First Amendment prohibits schools endorsing a particular religion, but in context it doesn't sound like the school is endorsing the song -- usually the idea with a talent show is that you make it open to students to put on what _they_ choose to put on, so the singer is the only one endorsing religion. That said, if the case were completely clear, I would have expected the judge to issue an injunction before the fact, which he refused to do.

By Fred Vincy, at 12:21 PM

I kind of thought that the judge would have issued the injunction, too, Fred. There seems to be some blur surrounding a school-sanctioned event and the right of the student to choose her material.

By Diane, at 12:30 PM

Doesn't Christianity in itself promote sexism? I mean, everything that goes wrong in life always go back to when Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Because of that, men have to keep women under control via constant pregnancies, domesticity, restraining women's sexuality, restricting and denying legal/political/economic rights to women and girls--and all that bullshit. Sounds like a pretty sexist religion to me. Did Mary of Nazareth even consented or asked to be an incubator, and wasn't she a young teenager when she became pregnant? She was raped by a deity, technically.

By Anonymous, at 1:14 PM

There are progressive Christian churches that do not sell the Eve story, but unfortunately, they are not in the majority.

For a girl of Mary's age to be pregnant at that age was common, I think, but yes, the without-consent aspect has always bothered me, too. Same old same old.

By Diane, at 1:37 PM

I missed the sexism in the lyrics, but I was hung on on the fact that I was stuck with a mental image of G-d that resembled Bluto from the Popeye series while reading the lyrics.

When it comes to talent shows, schools do have a right to set limits and rules as to what is and is not appropriate for the venue and competition. Those are some imposing lyrics for the elementary school set (I doubt they would let another child sing a pop song that had that undercurrent of violence). As for their argument that the opening act of MacBeth is equally inappropriate based on their characterization of it as "boiling animals and witchcraft" is a bit off (of course, I don't know how the kids putting it on have interpretted it).

By Ol Cranky, at 4:16 PM

I was referring to God as a male.

By Diane, at 4:29 PM

hey pseudo, I think you miss the point of Christianity if you feel it promotes sexism. To me, it is all about the grace (forgiveness) of God demonstrated in Jesus. Christ's ministry was all about the dignity of human life and He spent more time with the "outsiders" than the "insiders."
The problem is with the warped vision people give it, much like the way Islam is twisted by its radical "adherents."
Peace.

By Kurt, at 12:08 PM

Other than very progressive Christian churches, the "Eve is to blame" story is accepted by Christianity, which means--like pseudo says--that the entire Judeo part of the religion (which is very much a part of Christianity) is based on everything being the fault of woman. There's no getting around that, I'm afraid.

In addition, most Christian churches teach that Eve was made from Adam's rib, thus reinforcing the idea that men are superior.

Christianity refer to God as "He".

Most Christian churches still do not ordain women.

Many Christian churches teach tha the man is the "head of the household," and the leading Christian church in the world appears to exist in order to oppress women.

If you want to make the argument that Jesus wouldn't have approved of any of this, fine. But almost all Christian churches are teaching this stuff, which means that Christianity promotes sexism.

By Diane, at 12:16 PM