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By Andrew McGinn
Springfield News & Sun Staff Writer
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The money still says, "In God We Trust."
But if you ask one Springfield church choir, why should He still trust
us — or even bless us?
The Grand Avenue Church of God choir has had a song called "Why Should
God Bless America?" in its repertoire for more than a decade.
The song is a rewrite of Irving Berlin's classic, "God Bless America."
But this week, with the choir's performance of the song in Florida at a
Republican presidential debate, it officially entered the viral video
age.
It turned up on YouTube and also surfaced in the blogosphere, prompting
both praise and criticism.
"Most people don't know about us," explained head choir director Melanie
Clark. "We're just a little congregation in Springfield, Ohio."
A little congregation — but with a mighty big message.
The song opens with the lines, "Why should God bless America? She's
forgotten he exists."
References to prayer being taken out of schools and abortion ensue.
Clark said she imagines the song could be controversial.
"But those who are concerned about family values and moral values
appreciate it," she said. "We didn't mean to cause any problem."
The event Monday in Fort Lauderdale was a Values Voters debate.
According to ValuesVoters.com, the group is made of "voters that believe
in American values." Seven of 11 GOP candidates attended, but
frontrunners weren't present.
The Church of God choir was invited to perform by Janet Folger,
president of the group Faith2Action.
The former legislative director of Ohio Right to Life, Folger first saw
the group perform in 1996 at a pro-life rally at the then-Springfield
Inn.
While not an original song, Folger thinks "everybody should hear" it,
according to Clark.
"People just love it," Clark said. "We just keep getting requests for
it."
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