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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

God and the Star-Spangled Banner

Our textbook discusses the role of religion in American civic culture.  On page 142 of the second edition, for instance, we note the fourth verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner," our national anthem:
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
This rendition has gotten more than 10 million YouTube views over the past three years: