Saturday, December 12, 2015

Banned music of the week

--

-----------------------

Pope Francis is not the first one to link love of God with love of our neighbor and care for our environment.

The idea of stewardship of the land as an echo of the stewardship of God for the earth is ancient, but the industrial revolution sort of put it on hold and replaced it with the idea of "exploitation of the land" in order to make money.

which brings us to Jerusalem the song:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear: o clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariots of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight;
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.

the hymn and other writings by Blake celebrate England's natural beauty, and his opposition to those destroying the land.

Blake's phrase resonates with a wider theme in his works, what he envisioned as a physically and spiritually repressive ideology based on a quantifiable reality. Blake saw the cotton mills andcollieries of the period as a mechanism for the enslavement of millions, but the concepts underpinning the works had a wider application:[12][13]


Of course, no one really believes it's reference to Jesus in Britain as a child. Most people realize that Blake was using a metaphor (wikipedia).

and the last stanza connects the beauty of heaven and the beauty of England, but only if we fight for it.

I will not cease from Mental Fight,Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:Till we have built Jerusalem,In England's green & pleasant Land

But this song, which praises England's pleasant pastures, is not considered PC in some Anglican churches there.

HUH?


Yes, It has been banned in some churches, as the UKDaily Mail reports:


'The Dean of Southwark does not believe that it is to the glory of God and it is not therefore used in private memorial services.'
Various excuses have been used in recent years for banning Jerusalem.
Some clerics have objected on the grounds that Blake's poetry is insufficiently Christian.
Others have complained that bows, arrows, spears, swords, and chariots of fire are too military in tone.
St Margaret's once refused to allow the hymn to be used at a memorial service because its clergy considered that the contrast of dark satanic mills with England's green and pleasant land discriminated against city dwellers.
Vicars occasionally try to prevent the singing of Jerusalem on the grounds that it is 'too nationalistic' - a reason cited by a Manchester cleric who told a couple they could not have it at their wedding in 200 Read 


Probably the real problem that the elite have with the hymn is that, it has been picked up and sung by ordinary people at sporting events.



Faust, at daTechGuy adds:

In the 21st Century, Jerusalem has been banned as being too nationalistic. One key word jumps out: banned.
Which brings me back to my question, what about those “dark Satanic Mills”? Should the banning of Jerusalem, and similar acts of political correctness, be considered one of the “dark Satanic Mills” of our times?

No comments: