So, they tried to force me to sing praise to God's Creation.

[Angst-Bot]

Right.

xD

So, the school administration decided to sack our awesome chorus teacher of 20+ years (he was only fifty at the time), and leave us without a teacher for several months.

(Yeah, and they chose the substitute who harasses and verbally abuses non-pledgers, who would stand behind me in every class and yell at me if I wasn't taking good enough notes on the shitty video they made us watch--notes that never account for everything).

So they hired a hack job.

I could rant and rave about how horribly this man was, chorally--he never helped us arrange our rows and such for a concert, so they told us to get in them and we were all "They exist?" We didn't really have sections, so on, so forth.

However, I got a bit pissed off when I was expected to sing a song including these lyrics:

"Praise to Thee O Lord for all Creation / give us thankful hearts so we may see/ all the gifts you share and every blessing/ all things come of thee."

I did not sing the song, and said teacher very loudly proclaimed that I should go to a study hall if I wasn't going to sing. I pulled that lovely religious freedom card in response. So, I was allowed not to sing, but was also not allowed to do anything else as others practiced--I literally had to stare at a wall.

Why do schools feel a need to make us sing these songs? If they wanted to make a concert celebrating all religious views, that would be neat. Pastafarian gospel would be ******** hilarious. But why church hymns?

Sorry for the length--this sounds really bitchy, doesn't it?  

[Inferno Breeze]

Is your region particularly religious? Cuz here the teachers would a) never choose a religious piece and b) Would understand if you had objections against a religious piece.

I think that this problem stems deeper into society. The whole "Under God" in the pledge of allegiance and "In God We Trust" on our money.

A majority of the country is indeed Christian so they think they have the right to make us conform to their customs. Its just so wrong. Assuming you have liberal-minded parents, you should be able to file a complaint against the school system for a) their choice of a song and b) your treatment after your refusal to sing it.

Fight the system domokun  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Something you must understand about choral music is that most classic choral works throughout history were written for the church. Choirs are pretty much guaranteed to be singing Christian religious music at some point or another, as it makes up most of their important repertoire. The university chorale I sing in has performed two religious pieces this semester, one in Hebrew and one in German, and the other choirs at my school sang religious works as well. If you're going to sing in a choir, that's really just something you're going to have to get used to. You don't have to mean it, just sing it because it sounds pretty.  

[Status Quo Joe]

I live in Louisiana.
We have many bible thumpers and followers here.
I must say it's hard to be any other religion here.
You get harassed for being different. Of any sort.
I remember almost getting expelled for "Communist Propaganda"
and for "Idle worship"

Teachers here are mostly jagoffs.  

[Kurai Keiro]

Status Quo Joe

I live in Louisiana.
We have many bible thumpers and followers here.
I must say it's hard to be any other religion here.
You get harassed for being different. Of any sort.
I remember almost getting expelled for "Communist Propaganda"
and for "Idle worship"

Teachers here are mostly jagoffs.

Hey, fellow Louisianian. XP I feel the same. It's very awkward when the person I am talking to starts ranting and shouting about how God talks to them, etc... I'm glad my school is fairly liberal, or else I would probably be dead by now...  

[H0wling_Blue]

My own choir teacher of three years, and I have known him for 5 years, has us sing many christian songs, as well as some Jewish songs, on a regular basis. I was especially offended by a song that goes something like,
'Oh, clap your hands/ oh ye mighty people/ sing to the lord with a song of joy/ Clap your hands/ oh ye mighty people/ sing to the lord/ a new song.

It continues on to say how god is great and we are happy and thank him. Or something similar. I told my teacher how it offended me, he said

"I know. I don't care. You know we sing these kinds of songs in my class, and if you don't like it you should just drop the class altogether. I think you should give it a chance."

I was so angry I sharted to cry with me efforts not to yell at him.
((Please, go look at my introduction of myself in the intro thread^^))

 

[Teoka]

I've had the same thoughts before, but I've adjusted to the fact that we'll sing religious songs no matter what, because of how nice the music sounds. I'd love to kill the lyrics, but oh well.

We're singing "Music Down in My Soul" by Moses Hogan, which is a fun song, but the lyrics are quite annoying, singing about the "joy of the lawd." It really is fun to perform it, though, not to mention I'm singing the descant with a couple other girls who are quite advanced xd Makes me feel special, for once.

I don't see myself getting too pissy about it, but it all depends on the actions of the director. The second he/she starts preaching, even remotely, I'm leaving. At that point, it's not about the music - it's about the religion.  

[H0wling_Blue]

I just dont like how the schools feel the need to be tolerant with other RELIGIONS but not those of us who are OFFENDED by it.  

[Teoka]

BlueMoonHowler2

I just dont like how the schools feel the need to be tolerant with other RELIGIONS but not those of us who are OFFENDED by it.

I feel your pain =_= I also think that if you don't like the song for religious reasons, you shouldn't have to sing it.  

[H0wling_Blue]

Yeahhh but if I don't sing, I get an 'F'. NO ONE fail choir at my school  

[Dark Pieman]

It's just words in a song... Don't you think you're overreacting a little?

Is this happening in America, by any chance?  

[H0wling_Blue]

Yes, it is America. I'm in California, btw.

And it's not just the words. My teacher keeps telling me to give God a chance without saying it straight out. I find the fact that he will fail me if I don't conform to his beliefs offensive. I complain. It's what I do

.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

BlueMoonHowler2

Yes, it is America. I'm in California, btw.

And it's not just the words. My teacher keeps telling me to give God a chance without saying it straight out. I find the fact that he will fail me if I don't conform to his beliefs offensive. I complain. It's what I do

.

He won't fail you for not conforming to his beliefs; it's not legal. If he tries, I'm sure you'd have no great problem getting that decision overturned - teachers aren't even supposed to discuss their religious preferences with students in school except on an academic basis. He can very well fail you for refusing to complete your assignment, though, and your assignment is to sing the music you've been given. As I said before, historically, most western choral music was written for the church, because the church was paying the composers to do it. I've had to sing plenty of works with religious text in choirs, and while I get a little annoyed when directors harp on the meaning behind the words, I am not bothered by having to sing the songs because I know I don't have to believe what I'm singing.

Think of it as an acting job. Open your mind a little and put it in a different light and it doesn't have to offend you. This may come off as rude, since text boxes can't convey the tone with which I intended this, but it's not meant to be at all. I just kind of think that being so die-hard atheistic that you are unwilling to even sing a song for a class because of the religious text... well... it just makes me think of those Muslims that tried to have a woman executed for allowing a child to name a teddy bear after Muhammad. Part of being tolerant of everyone's beliefs, IMO, includes being willing to accept these parts of western historical culture with a grain of salt and not get your panties in a wad over it.