Dem Ole Hymns

I was driving the short distance across town to meet the photoboys for coffee when for some very odd reason a bit of an old hymn, At Calvary,  pinged my brain. 

I have told this next bit before, but, although I am an atheist,  much of the music that lives inside my head are the hymns that I grew up with, and I still love to sing them. The car is a good place for my bellowing because no one else's ears gets subjected to my voice.

This old  fella quit church more than 40 years ago, but I surprised myself by singing two complete verses as well as the chorus. I had time to repeat the hymn three times, or maybe four, before I arrived at my destination, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

That evening, when I thought of posting about this odd proclivity of mine, I decided to track down a version of At Calvary on YouTube and settled on a choir version rather than one from a smaller gospel group. The kids sing well and their Christian commitment was evident, but I began to experience a bit of a creepy feeling, which probably isn't the precise phrase that I am searching for.

There was a time when I sang, or tried to sing, in our church choir, and, like these kids, I sang with feeling and fervour. So, I could relate to them. Indeed, I was once who they are now, albeit with less talent.

So why that uneasy feeling?

I don't know if I can explain it well, but I'll take a stab at it.

It might have something to do with their aura of absolute certainty. I also experienced this when I was their age, so I feel as though I can put myself in their choir loft. The trouble is that these children know nothing yet but are singing their devout religious proclamations with such conviction. They are following the religion that they have been taught with blessed assurance and without question. That makes me a bit uneasy.

It also disturbs me that this is the choir of a Christian school. Their parents have effectively removed them from society or part of it. They've put them in an institution where they will follow their parents' faith without question. I have a strong suspicion that they will be taught that evolutionary science is wrong and that the earth was created only a few thousand years ago.

I fear that in addition to having such assured faith, they will have minds that are closed to verifiable truth and science as well as to people who may be different. What will they think of those with alternate sexual orientations, for example? Culturally and politically, will they disdain liberal values as that terrible thing called woke, whatever that abused term means any more?

While I hope that some of the choir finds its way into free and critical thinking that seeks and evaluates evidence, I despair that most of these kids will never open their minds to embrace evidence and inclusion.

But dangnabbitall, I still like to sang dem ole hymns ah da church.