Sing Along with Americans United for Separation of Church and State

I got an interesting email from American United for Separation of Church and State today. It seems that at the end of September, they are having a nationwide series of rallies for Obama concerts to celebrate that most American of freedoms, the freedom to ban religion from the public square. But to pull this off, Barry Lynn, AU head honcho, needs your help:

We hope you have heard about our project, Voices United for Separation of Church and State. We are happy to report that, thanks to an outpouring of support from artists and volunteers across the country, we have at least one show planned in each state.

Now we are relying on you, the most dedicated supporters of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, to make Voices United an enormous success. Here are just a few simple things you can do:

  1. Check out our new and improved website! Share the site with all of your friends that love music and care about separation of church and state.
  2. Make sure to register on our website. Later this week we will be sending out email invitations to all of the shows that are close to you and giving you information on how to reserve your spot!
  3. Create a Voices Video! Movements are created through the sharing of ideas. We know you have some ideas! Get a friend to hold your camera phone and share with the world why you care about church-state separation.
  4. Get your Voices United t-shirts at our Cafe Press store.

Thank you so much for helping spread the word about Americans United for Separation of Church and State through Voices United Concerts!

Now, I can’t sing, but I’ve written several hymns, and decided that such a noble endeavor needed a theme song, so I wrote one this morning. It probably needs a little work, but in the interest of saving our nation from the evil theocrats among us, and with apologies to Katharine Lee Bates, I present it here for the AU “artists and volunteers” to use with my blessing:

“O Beautiful for Empty Sky” (to the tune of “America the Beautiful”)

O beautiful for empty sky,
and empty public square,
for mountains shorn of all offense,
and plains that are faith-bare.
America! America!
Keep faith within your head!
Don’t speak the name of You Know Who,
Ignore Him til you’re Red!

O beautiful for all things gay,
and for abortion, too;
these are the things that make us great,
not Christian and not Jew.
America! America!
Keep faith within your head!
Don’t speak the name of You Know Who,
Ignore Him til you’re Red!

O beautiful for teacher’s true
to Marx, Darwin, and Freud,
the only holy trinity
allowed in public school!
America! America!
Keep faith within your head!
Don’t speak the name of You Know Who,
Ignore Him til you’re Red!

O beautiful for all things Left,
and all things secular;
this is the faith that we uphold,
it’s yours we have to bar!
America! America!
Keep faith within your head!
Don’t speak the name of You Know Who,
Ignore Him til you’re Red!