An Ungodly History of “God Bless America”
Our unofficial anthem is secular, queer, postmodern, beautiful
The Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin didn’t believe in God. He authored “God Bless America.” Is that a paradox?
I’m thinking about a country that calls itself Christian, but really isn’t—and about it’s ‘unofficial national anthem’. Berlin said in an interview:
“It’s a ballad of home. It’s not a song about a flag, or liberty, or something like that. It’s a song about home.”
No, America isn’t that Christian.
After being raised in churches being told this, I had to stop and think. America’s favorite books — The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn — aren’t Christian at all.
The songs that define America over time aren’t Christian. Try “Yankee Doodle” or “Dixie” — no God-talk at all. The official anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” refers to America as “Heav’n rescued,” and seems pointedly non-Christian in referencing only “the Power that hath made and preserved us…”
Even “Amazing Grace”—the only Christian hymn that America actually likes—is about a vague, empowering divine force. The song’s actual subject is the ‘I’ who…
