Expert: Ed Buckner - 6/17/2009

Question
I would like to know if "God Help the Outcasts," from the Disney movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is an appropriate song choice for a public, 4th grade chorus selection? I was taken aback by the choice and more so by the reply I received after requesting an explanation for the selection. The instructor stated: "this song is about helping people in need"..."It is almost impossible to entirely avoid religious music and still give students a broad understanding of the music in our world. If you do not feel comfortable with your child singing this song tonight, then he/she is welcome to sit out during our performance."...and also "There are many parents each year whom I send music to so they can decide whether or not their child should participate."
From my perspective, the song choice and the response was inappropriate. I feel this is a very slippery slope the instructor is walking and the written response seems to be fantastic evidence in a separationism civil suit should one wish to pursue this.
I have no motivation to pursue this legally however I am meeting with the instructor & the administration to share my concerns and hoped for some professional insight to ensure that I am not way out of line.
Thank you for your time!

Answer
Dear P J,

I am an Atheist, I generally dislike sappy Disney music, I suspect that if I knew more about "God Help the Outcasts," I'd agree completely with you about its inappropriateness for 4th grade students--but I nevertheless disagree with your conclusion. I'm not an attorney, but I don't think the facts as you've outlined them are likely to support a civil case based on First Amendment/church state separation principles. I'm also not musically astute, but I think the teacher is very likely correct in implying that music and religion are too intertwined to be able to rationally exclude all religious music whatsoever. Remember, of course, that for an Atheist like me, the beautiful architecture, music, sculpture, painting, etc., inspired by or paid for by the church and her minions was produced exclusively by human agents, not divine ones.

My recommendation regarding the meeting with the instructor and administration would be to say something like this, "I continue to find fault with your selection of 'God Help the Outcasts,' on both musical and irreligious grounds, but I certainly don't want my child to have to sit out of any part of the choral experience. I accept that selection is your responsibility and that religious music may well be an inevitable part of music education. But I want to be crystal clear that I insist on my First Amendment rights to not have my child religiously indoctrinated in a public school. If you convey to your students that helping outcasts is only available from some supernatural source or that believing in God is a socially desirable thing, you will, in my opinion, be violating my rights and those of my child. I therefore request that you take care not to convey such things."

I will, just to be surer of my advice, show your comments to an attorney I know and trust--if he disagrees materially with my advice, I'll let you know.

Regards,

Ed Buckner, President
American Atheists