A Prairie Hate Companion
Apparently, NPR’s Garrison Keillor is on Bill O’Reilly’s side regarding the War On Christmas. OK, weird, but that’s not the part that bothers me. Check out this little excerpt from his screed in Wednesday’s Baltimore Sun, whereupon he’s quite angry about a somewhat secularized version of “Silent Night” sung at a Unitarian church in Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison, and that’s their perfect right, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite “Silent Night.” If you don’t believe Jesus was God, OK, go write your own damn “Silent Night” and leave ours alone. This is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism, and we Christians have stood for it long enough. And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write “Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah”? No, we didn’t.
OK, two things:
- You don’t like anyone messing with “Silent Night” – that’s fine by me. But that does not give you the right to shit on Unitarianism. If you don’t like what they believe (or not believe or mix-believe) and how they choose to celebrate, too bad. This is America.
- Let me get this straight. You’re blaming the Jews for shitty Christmas music? Are you fucking kidding me? Jews hate Christmas music. Leave us the fuck alone. Nothing would make us happier than being able to go to the mall in December without being accosted by Rudolph the Goddamn Red-Nosed Fucking Reindeer and all that other crap. Yes, Irving Berlin and some other Jews wrote some Christmas music, but we didn’t force it on the populace. Christians did that. “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” were written by Christians – how are they any better than “White Christmas” or “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire)”? As for Christians writing songs for Jewish holidays, Orrin Hatch already did that and it annoys the crap out of me. But more to the point, if someone wrote a commercial song for Rosh Hashanah, it wouldn’t catch on no matter what religion the writer belonged to, because Jewish holidays aren’t supposed to be commercial. And Keillor, if you think Christmas shouldn’t be so commercial either, I support you! But don’t blame my people for what your people did to your own holiday. It doesn’t matter who wrote the damn songs.
So, seriously, Prairie Home Companion? Not going to be listening any more.
Excellent rant, xstryker and shame on Garrison Keillor. The WOC warriors need to look in the mirror if they don’t like what Christmas has become. They don’t even know the history of their own holiday or their own religion so they piss me off.
Will we see you tonight x? Be sure to bring Mrs. X.
Awwwww, I feel loved. We’ll be there, yes. What’s the dress code for this thing? X was talking about wearing camo?! Is that accurate?
Wear whatever you want! And I’m a pagan tree, Madison Avenue kinda gal. Anything for a party. Personally, I think all religions could use a healthy dose of party.
As far as Silent Night – well, if it has a good beat, and you can dance to it…
Just sayin’
No offense intended to people who like Christmas music. And I should point out that not all Jews hate Christmas music, and that I myself could name a couple of Christmas tunes that I kinda don’t hate.
Also, as far as songs written by Jews about Christianity go? Norm Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky” is one of the best songs ever written about Jesus. FACT.
I myself could name a couple of Christmas tunes that I kinda don’t hate.
Yes, the Mariah Carey one, for example. 😉 Personally I’m a fan of “I’ll Be Yo Santa, Baby” by Rufus Thomas. Brings a whole new meaning to “Here Comes Santa Claus”. If you would like to hear it, it is on my iPhone and I’m happy to play it for you.
This one? I love that song, and I’m a sucker for Love Actually!
as a jew, i get really sick of all christmas music. However as a musician, i kinda like the more religious reverent music… Oh HOly Night, Carol of the Bells, etc. With the right orchestration and a big brass section, they can sound quite pretty. What I hate is hannukah music. I think Garrison Hitler got it backwards. Im convinced christians wrote crap like Driedle Dreidle Dreidle to make the holiday seem childish and silly and dumb. (although if you read david brooks’ op-ed in the NYT a few days ago, you would know it KIND OF commemorates the rise of the jewish taliban)
sad truth is, there is not a Hannukah song that comes anywhere close to even Silent night. I think Mah Oztor is kinda cool, but it can also be a Passover song unless I’m mistaken… it is kind of “yay, they didn’t kill us” and that can be applied to virtually EVERY Jewish holiday
A. Price – Mao Tzur is a Chanukah Song, you are correct. And yes, Chanukah music is awful. My Mom loves it though, and has this CD called “Happy Chanukah My Friend” that she starts playing on repeat in the car sometime mid-November. Luckily there are trade-offs, and she’s a pretty awesome Mom otherwise.
Pandora, yes, that one. AND OMG WE LOVE LOVE ACTUALLY. We had our wedding recessional to “All You Need Is Love” because of that movie. No lie. I mean “we” as in myself and X, not in the Royal sense.
I’d relax, XS. He’s reacting to a religious body modifying the words to “Stille Nacht.” This isn’t Allan Sherman singing “God Bless You, Jerry Mendelbaum” (“And you won’t have a feeling of dismay, next May”), or the Youngsters singing “Christmas in Jail” or the Church Keys singing “Santa Wants a Cold Beer.” This is a congregation borrowing a 200-year-old religious hymn, apparently substituting lyrics that strip out the religion, and singing it in bloody church. I haven’t seen the Unitarian lyric, but sight unseen, I’d say that Garrison has a reasonable point, and certainly not a POV that puts him in the O’Reilly camp. Jeez, Garrison’s one of the great warriors against such self-important midgets, one of the great parodists of religion.
From March 2001 show: “The new President said that God put him into the White House. I thought it was Sandra Day O’Connor.”
At the same time, I don’t understand the passage about Jews writing crappy Christmas songs. As Michael Feinstein noted this morning, they’ve written some of the best and some of the worst:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/opinion/18feinstein.html
A Unitarian congregation, that is, and they can do whatever they want. Unitarianism is all about borrowing and altering traditions from different sects and faiths. If you don’t like it, don’t join their congregation. You don’t see me bitching about megachurches.
And John, I didn’t mean to suggest that Keillor isn’t a liberal. I just meant that he’s taken O’Reilly side in opposing elitism (read the full article) and secularization.
The Jewish stuff is really quite offensive, but let’s be honest about Unitarianism — it is a faith so ill-defined and doctrine-free that its prayers could easily begin “To whom it may concern (if there is anyone out there to be concerned at all)” without causing an eye blink among the worshippers. Indeed, my experience is that there are a good many Unitarians are simply atheists who feel guilty about not getting up and going to Church on Sunday morning. That is not to say that Unitarians are bad people — most of those I’ve known (and I’ve known many over the years, including clergy) are some of the most kindly people you would ever want to meet, even if I have serious theological differences with them.
RWR, I have no disagreement with what you say, although I find the whole idea a great deal more respectable. If Unitarians started doing the Kaddish, translated into English with alterations, I’d find it kind of distasteful. But I damn sure wouldn’t be telling them whether or not they could do so.
On the other hand, I am vocally critical of Jews for Jesus, but I always draw the line at religions that make converting my people their top priority.
Didn’t know Keiller had it in him, maybe his folksy/Mark Twain-y persona is a sham.
holy hannukiah! i had that tape! it made me reconsider my bar mitzvah training. Now, there are some pretty nice songs in (at least the reform) service. I used to be in the youth choir and there were some pretty one, but of chourse they were all in Hebrew and harmonic minor keys…. not very “american”
And I think that therein lies the problem — one that I was trying to point to.
Unitarianism is a faith that leans so far towards inclusion of every religious point of view that they effectively end up neutering everyone’s point of view to get to a “least common denominator” faith. In the process, they risk giving great offense to sincere believers of particular faiths — and also to others who merely respect the reverence believers have towards that which they hold sacred.
Consider this example:
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2002_3508443
Do I think that that is representative of all Unitarian fellowships? No, but the desire to take “a little of this and a little of that” from others can be truly offensive when it results in a failure to respect those whose traditions one wishes to take on.
If you want great Jewish music, youtube “Adon Olam” – you’ll find a thousand different melodies, some traditional (and impossibly beautiful), and plenty of modern ones as well.
RWR – hate to tell you this, but that’s exactly how I feel about the way Christians use the Old Testament. In my book, Unitarianism is no more offensive to Judaism than the whole of Christianity (with the possible exception of the Quakers, who more or less got it right).
See, the Unitarians, at least, aren’t telling you that their interpretation of your own hymn is definitive.
No question, though, that what you linked to is deplorable – harassment is harassment. But I don’t judge all Baptists by the Westboro Baptist Church.
Technically, A Prairie Home Companio isn’t with NPR, A Prairie Home Companion is produced by American Public Media, not NPR. It is however carried by a lot of NPR affiliates.
Um, Rhymey, your view of Unitarian Universalism is simply wrong. They don’t try to have any “least common denominator faith”. They don’t require a faith or belief or creed to become a member. They are interested in supporting an individual’s search for truth and spiritual exploration within the context of 7 UU principles:
1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
It seems to me that these embody the highest ideals of religious thought, not the lowest. The UUism that you describe is incompatible with the principles above. The UU churches that I have attended have had people from many different faith and humanist traditions as members – and it hasn’t been a problem.
For more information, see:
http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml
So has he complained about Maryland’s state song using the melody of “O Tannenbaum”? How about “What Child Is This?” stealing the music from “Greensleeves”?
Anyway, Garrison Keillor is not, has never been, and will never be funny, although I didn’t know he was that crotchety. Maybe it’s just old age, or someone crapped in his grape nuts that morning or something.
I don’t understand why Keillor or O’Reilly care what one church does in its own church. Freedom of religion is just a sham to them, I guess. Does O’Reilly want to force some denominations to not marry same sex couples or not ordain women? As far as rewriting hymns goes – that happens all the time. I hear country singers singing religious music and it isn’t using a harp or harpsichord. This episode just validates my cynicism that the people who cry about “freedom of religion” generally mean “freedom of MY religion” and not anyone else’s.
Love RWR’s ignorance of UU.
Seven principles which UU’s follow
* The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
* Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
* Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
* A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
* The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
* The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
* Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Combine an Anglican with a Zealander and you get … one of the greatest billboards in the history of postmodern civilization
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091217/od_nm/us_newzealand_billboard
Keep in mind Keillor’s own faith-centered upbringing — some splinter group of the Seventh-Day Adventists or something, IIRC (too busy shoveling to look it up), where they baked their own communion bread and the spiritual leader was also Uncle Lou. That could warp anyone, let alone a sensitive kid who looked like a giant toad and knew it.
I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Keillor use the “whom it may concern” line about U-U’s on the air. He’s made plenty of jokes at the expense of Catholics and Lutherans over the years, too, so maybe this isn’t about religion. If you’ve heard the show in recent years, he does a lot of singing (and it’s mostly worse than you’re imagining right now). Maybe he’s just an aggrieved music lover. Even in translation, the original lyrics are pretty good, and 4 out of 5 atheists would agree.
Like I said — a lowest common denominator faith that amounts to “play nice”. It is less a religion than a social club for folks who feel a need to go someplace on Sunday morning.
Not, of course, that there is anything wrong with that.
In my humble experience, the congregation is the church.
@RWR “Like I said — a lowest common denominator faith that amounts to “play nice”. It is less a religion than a social club for folks who feel a need to go someplace on Sunday morning.”
Aren’t they all like that? Some just push the superstition stuff more than others.
Superstition…a great way to promote critical thinking skills.
@rhubard “In my humble experience, the congregation is the church.”
Not unless the congregation is electing the leadership positions in the church. At most churches, the only vote a parishioner gets is with his feet.
Wow, just imagine if all religions focused on and centered around “play nice.” Is that seriously something to sneer at?
One response to Keillor, found here: http://uugrowth.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/silent-night-garrison-keillor/
The only words changed in Silent Night in the current UU hymnal are that the lines “Christ the Savior is Born” and “Jesus Lord at thy birth” which conclude stanzas two and three are replaced by the equivalent ending line from stanza 1, “Sleep in heavenly peace.” They are omitted because many UUs do not accept Jesus as the Messiah, as implied by the term Christ and Lord.
Seems simple enough.