This week, an atheist organization sent a letter to the superintendent of the Wayland, Massachusetts public schools, claiming that the playing of "God Bless America" by the Wayland High School band is an unconstitutional act, since it violates the separation of church and state.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) threatened to file a lawsuit against the Wayland public schools, if the band continues to play "God Bless America."
Dr. Paul Stein -- superintendent of Wayland public schools -- said he plans to ignore the FFRF letter, because he believes that the atheist group is over-reacting to a minute situation. Actually, the song is played by the band just two times each year -- on Pearl Harbor Day and Memorial Day.
We agree with Dr. Stein that the FFRF is over-reacting in this situation. Moreover, we believe that the FFRF should end its threat to file a lawsuit against the Wayland public schools.
The fact is that "God Bless America" is not primarily a prayer song -- even though the word "God" is used in it -- but rather a patriotic song which, at most spiritually, is a "thank you" to God for making America the great country that it is. It can be compared to "America The Beautiful" -- a similar type of patriotic song -- which includes the words "America! America! God shed His grace on thee."
Because the Wayland High School band does not use words in playing "God Bless America" -- unlike singing it -- it can also be argued that the band is just playing the tune of the song with no mention of God.
That being the case, it would behoove the FFRF to end its threat of a lawsuit against the Wayland public schools, and perhaps concentrate its effort on situations where there really is a violation of church and state separation.
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