Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Above Us Only Sky
Pupils in the St Leonards Primary in Exeter, Devon, UK, were told that singing the song that they had been practicing for weeks for the annual song festival was inappropriate. What was the song, you ask?
"Imagine", by John Lennon.
[link] it was taken out of the running order after the head teacher and governors decided it was anti-Christian and unsuitable for the school.
The lyrics include: "Imagine there's no heaven... and no religion too."
Head teacher Geoff Williams said a teacher approached him because she did not think the song was appropriate.
He said: "The teacher came to talk to me about it because she was concerned and I supported her.
"As a church school we decided it was not appropriate to sing it."
The school has close links with the nearby St Leonards Church whose rector, the Rev David Harris, is also a school governor.
He said: "The song expresses longing for a different world and for eternal happiness but it says you can have this without religion."
A different world and happiness without religion? Blasphemy!
For those of you interested, I have included the lyrics to 'Imagine" under the fold so that you can determine for yourself whether or not the song was "anti-Christian". I don't think it was, but what do I know?
"Imagine", by John Lennon
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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The lyrics do not appear
The lyrics do not appear particularly "anti-Christian" to me. They do appear to be anti-religion, but then given the hundreds of thousands who have died through history in the name of religion, and the divisions caused by religion, I think he makes a fair challenge to the hearts of us all...
A Simple Wanderer
Imagine ...
To my mind, this was put to rest by Mr. Carlson on the old WKRP TV show. The radio evangelist said the station shouldn't play "Imagine" because it's blasphemous. Carlson disagreed.
"He doesn't SAY there's no heaven. He just says IMAGINE."
Now, if you're going to take a position against imagining things, you're no longer defending morality, you're promoting ignorance and suppressing rational inquiry. Or as I like to call it, you're building a bridge to the 14th century.
The song Imagine is about
The song Imagine is about more than just religion. It is about understanding that the different groups we divide ourselves into, be they religious, national, cultural, or otherwise, are nothing more than man made constructs that we use to fool ourselves into thinking that there really are important differences between us. That those differences are illusion is John's message.
Well...to be fair, the song
Well...to be fair, the song has some anti-christian tendencies. But there is more to the message than just that. Lennon is obviously describing that eliminating religion, would eliminate war. That with christianity (and other religions...), which should promote love and peace and all that jazz, instead comes hate crimes and war. So imagine there was no religion, and you can imagine a lot more peace in the world - which is an idea that a lot of people have... so it's anti-religion, more so than just simply anti-christian.
As for haulting the preformance of it? WTF is up with the school govenor's religion being implemented on the school? I'm assuming that it's a public school, so it really shouldn't matter what the religious fanatic has to say about the goings on. But... alas...