I’m not a big fan of the singing of “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch at baseball games. Yes, I know why it started and it was a sweet and even beautiful thing for a short time after 9/11. But it soon ran its course and became yet another exercise in empty patriotism. Now it just crowds out “Take me out to the ballgame,” ices the road team pitcher and more or less intrudes upon the vibe of a perfectly good ballgame.
I realize not everyone agrees with those criticisms, but even if you don’t, how about trashing “God Bless America” on the grounds that a hate-mongering nutjob believes that that song being sung in ballparks caused God Himself to spare the United States from further terrorist attacks post-9/11?
The hate-monger is Bryan Fischer of the Christian group the American Family Association. Being a Christian is not what makes him a hate-monger, of course. Being a man who routinely accuses Muslims, Native Americans, African Americans, gays and Hispanics of causing the world’s ills is what makes him a hate-monger. Seriously, Google this guy. Even run-of-the-mill bigots look at him and go “damn!”
Anyway, he has a theory. The video of it is below, but here’s a transcript. Note that he doesn’t say “terrorist attack.” He says “Muslim attack.” Thinking that all Muslims are terrorists are one of Fischer’s many, many charms:“By God’s blessing, we have not been hit by a Muslim attack since 9/11. I suggest that in part, we have Major League Baseball to thank. You remember that the week after 9/11 Major League Baseball converted the seventh inning stretch from the singing of ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame’ to the singing of ‘God Bless America.’
“Now ‘God Bless America’ is not just a song, it is a prayer. When we sing that we are inviting God to bless America, to stand beside her and to guide her through the night with a light from above. So for one brief, shining moment every night, Major League Baseball has converted our stadiums into cathedrals in which tens of thousands of ordinary Americans lift their hearts and voices as one and ask God to watch over and protect the United States. Ladies and gentleman, I think that those prayers have been heard and they have been answered.”
If you want to believe that a little ditty that Irving Berlin wrote for a vaudeville revue called “Yip Yip Yaphank” -- seriously -- is truly a prayer, hey, I’m not going to stop you. But I’m going to go on record as saying that if Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said that the sky was blue I’d fight to the death for the proposition that it was red. Enjoy the video: