School band told to stop performing 'How Great Thou Art'
There was no halftime show under the Friday night lights at Mississippis Brandon High School the marching band had been benched.The band was ordered off the field because the Christian hymn How Great Thou Art was a part of their halftime show in violation of a federal court order. The Rankin County School Board and District Office are very saddened students will not be able to perform their halftime show they have worked so hard on this summer, the district wrote in a statement to the Clarion Ledger newspaper.In 2013 a student sued the district over a series of Christian meetings that had been held on school property, the newspaper reported. The district later settled the lawsuit and acknowledged they had violated the students First Amendment rights.In July, U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves ruled the district had violated the agreement after a Christian minister delivered a prayer at an awards ceremony.Judge Reeves, who was appointed to the bench by President Obama, came down hard on the school district ordering them to pay thousands of dollars in fines. He also warned the district that future violations would cost them $10,000.Defendants are permanently enjoined from including prayer, religious sermons or activities in any school sponsored event including but not limited to assemblies, graduations, award ceremonies, athletic events and any other school event, the order reads.Word about the band getting benched spread across the town quicker than kudzu. I must have received emails and Facebook messages from nearly the entire state - from Desoto County to Yazoo City.Something must be done to right this wrong, people said. A message had to be sent to the likes of Judge Reeves. Locals gathered in coffee shops and garages to devise their plan.And what they did would become known as the musical shot heard around the world.During halftime of Friday nights game - a lone voice began to sing the forbidden song.Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, the singer sang.Brittany Mann was there and she witnessed the entire moment of defiance.We were just sitting there and then one by one people started to stand, she told me. At first, it started out as a hum but the sound got louder and louder.She said it was a truly incredible moment to watch hundreds of people singing together in the stadium.At that moment I was so proud of my town - coming together and taking a stand for something we believe in, she said. It breaks my heart to see where our country is going getting farther and farther away from the Christian beliefs that our country was founded on.I suspect Miss Brittany wasnt the only one who felt a sense of pride in the Magnolia State on that warm summer night.We may be pictured as toothless, barefoot, uneducated people around the country, but we are far from it, nearby resident Mandy Miller told me. Im from Mississippi and Im not ashamed to take a stand.Oh what a sight it must have been as hundreds and hundreds of people stood together and with one voice sent a message to Judge Reeves.This is the kind of thing that makes me proud to be from the South, Miss Mandy told me. We are getting tired of being told to sit down and shut up. People are ready to fight back.Miss Mandy is absolutely right. The time has come to stand up to the secularists.The time has come to put an end to their cultural jihad. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/08/21/school-band-told-to-stop-performing-how-great-thou-art.html
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Sounds like a perfectly good and Constitutional decision. It's a hymn and it doesn't belong at a public school function.
My guess is that they got exactly what they wanted - another lame ass contrived story of the persecution of Christians.
Yep.
I have no problem with the crowd singing if they want to, because they are not really a part of the public school event that we are talking about. They are not part of the band or the public school people (who should have known this would happen and most likely wanted to happen) who violated the Constitution here. Even if their little Billy or Sue is on the team or in the band. Still, if the crowd wants to sing, then hey it's free speech.
That would be wrong because they represent the public school officially by being there and doing what they would be doing.
Not at all, as long as they are in the audience. I know it's a very narrow point, but the audience doesn't have to be there. The members of the football team, the band and the cheerleaders do have to be there because they voluntarily joined their respective organizations and are a part of the show the school is putting on. Football is not only a sport, but it is also an entertainment function, in this case both being put on by the public school.
If you are an audience member, who bought a ticket to be there and you want to sing How Great Thou Art (one of my favorite hymns BTW), then have at it. That's free speech, but the show entertainment being put on by a public school can not. If I were miffed at this and was one of the school officials, I would encourage the audience to stand during half time and sing it, as long as the team, the band and the cheerleaders don't join in in any way.
Who said they couldn't? I have heard of no such ruling and doubt I ever will. They are studying them as part of history.
So its OK for the cheerleaders to simulate lesbian sex acts on the sidelines but not for them to sing a hymn ? Something wrong with this picture ...
Sure they can test the limits, but if that is what they are doing they give up the right to bitch when they get slapped down after going too far.
I think that the song should be an unofficial part of half time at every sports event at every high school in that state for the rest of the school year.
I have no problem with that and I don't think it would be unConstitutonal, as long as the team, band, cheerleaders or school officials don't join in the singing. Just the audience.
Better have your checkbook ready, because if this goes to court the school will lose. No doubt about it.