Friday, 20 April 2012
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Why Does the National Anthem Matter?
[This is reposted as part of our Best-Of Revelife Week. It was originally posted on February 10, 2011.]By Nick Don at Theopolitical
A lot of folks in the U.S. are upset with Christina Aguilera for missing a step in singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl last Sunday. As she was singing, she replaced one line with an earlier line, apparently realized it halfway through and changed the verb in the earlier line to the correct verb. In short, not a difficult mistake to make.
But why is it so important? American typically watch videos of celebrities screwing things up so they can laugh at them. Celebrities screw things up all the time and we love it. Why is it so different to screw up the national anthem?
Well, one difference is that the National Anthem is a ritual. That is is a ritual is inarguable, however you interpret the ritual. It is a ritual because it is enshrined in law how to act during the ritual. The U.S. Flag Code states:
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there. (src)
There are a number of ways this ritual can be understood. I am convinced, following Carolyn Marvin and David Ingle, that it is a totemic ritual. In the imagery of the anthem, the flag stands as a totem or talisman of power, the presence of which guarantees that the British (in this case) cannot overcome the Americans. As Marvin and Ingle put it in their Blood Sacrifice and the Nation,
During the British bombardment of 1814, Francis Scott Key was moved to model in poetry the flag’s endurance under fire. The battle for the death defying Star-Spangled Banner was ritualized as a creation-sacrifice guaranteeing the nation for eternity and illuminated by the regenerative dawn.
Now, I think Marvin and Ingle go too far, and rely too much on Weber’s account of a sociology of religion. They argue not that Key meant this, historically, but that sociologically this is what his lyrics must have meant. I reject that kind of social science. Nevertheless, I do think their basic reading of the ritual is right: “The patriotic statement that Americans are an unconquerable people, common at times of totem peril, is a deadly serious statement of totem faith. The totem wards off evil and protects from harm.”
That is why it is a grave sacrilege for Christina Aguilera to flub a line.
As an iconoclastic Christian, I of course do not recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem. But looking at the legal structure of the ritual, I wonder if standing is not as much a part of the ritual as singing. Many of my fellow iconoclasts and “Jesus Radicals” say that they stand, not out of fidelity to the nation but out of respect to those around them, but now I am rethinking that.
What do you think? Is the performance of the national anthem a ritual Christians should distance themselves from? If so, is standing an important part of the ritual? What do you do? If not, how do you understand the ritual of the national anthem in a way that is not problematic for Christians?
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Comments (3)
At the time that the poem was written. When an army surrendered, they took down the flag that would wave over the army. In the battle that the song was written during, the flag was shot down on a few occasions, and somebody would rush up and replace it, so that the British would know that the Army was not defeated. That they were still in the fight so to speak. I think the best way to determine what the song means, is to look at the words of the poem that make up the song. the words are posted below.
O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry 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!
In order for it to be a totem, or an object believed to give or contain power, the writer of the poem, would have to believe such a thing. Otherwise, we would be taking his message and misconstruing it and adding our own meeting. If we are going to add our own meeting, we could add anything we want to it, and say it talks about space aliens or whatever.
Where does the writer place his trust? In the flag? In a totem type object? No, as the last stanza clearly shows, Francis Scott Key, praised not the flag, or some ritual, but in the power that preserved and made us a nation. What is that power? According to the poem, our trust is in God. Not the flag, not a totem, or an object of worship. Our trust is in God.
Does the original poster, really have an issue with singing a song that says our trust is in God?
The author of the poem/song was clearly not putting trust in God. He was putting trust in worldly power, including that of murderous weapons. So Christians should clearly not participate in rituals involving this song, just as they should not salute a national flag. These represent a very different religion that that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In his time, Jesus presented an alternative paradigm to the imperial and nationalist one of his day. We need to be faithful to Christ's vision.
I will admit I do not pay homage to the national anthem and have even left churches that have flags in the worship area. I do not stand when it is played (such as at a sports game). The anthems goes back to totem worship and my allegiance is to God's Kingdom, not one on the earth. That said, I do like the USA though.
That said even if I was in support of the national anthem I would not be in support of the USA's as it goes back to a particular battle and I do not support war or the military movement. I wish that we would of had a more fitting song such as America the Beautiful.