Common sense is once again trumped by idiocy. The CD Hylton High School marching band has dropped the Charlie Daniels song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" from its play list, due to a complaint from a parent whose children don't even attend that school.
Details below the jump.
The CD Hylton High School band, of Woodbridge, VA (a DC exurb), will be playing at the Peach Bowl in Georgia in December. One of the songs they planned to play was Daniels' "The Devil Went Down To Georgia."
On Oct. 2, The Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger published a letter to the editor from Robert McLean, complaining that a song about the devil was acceptable, but they would be banned from playing a song about the Christian God -- the example mentioned was "Amazing Grace." His children do not attend Hylton High (according to one account, they're home-schooled).
As a result, the band director yanked the song from the band's playlist, on the grounds that he wanted to avoid subjecting the kids in the band to negative attention. (Needless to say, he's failed miserably on that count.)
I am the world's biggest agitator for separation of church in state. I got into trouble in high school for refusing to recite the pledge of allegiance, in part because of the phrase "under God." It pisses me off royally that our money says "In God We Trust."
But this is ridiculous. Apart from the fact that it's a marching band, so it'll be strictly instumental with no one reciting lyrics; apart from the fact that the complaining parents don't even have a dog in the fight; even apart from the fact that it's a pretty cool piece of music; this isn't about the promotion of religion by the school. This is about someone whose religion is rightly excluded from public school who is determined to claim victimhood.
And, if you take the time to listen to the lyrics, you know the devil loses.
Links:
WAPO
Potomac News
InsideNoVa.com
WJLA