Having grown up around a moderate type of Christianity no where near Fundamentalism, I regularly learn new things about Christianity that make me incredibly grateful to have had a father and mother who taught me critical thinking & how to think for myself and supported me when that resulted in me not sharing their religion.
I also regularly encounter disturbing things about Christianity that Christians think are good things. Thanks to Dogma Debate, I recently found something that fits both categories.
This is a real children's song. I understand the inclination to think this is fake, but it is quite real. They are teaching this song to children.
And having them sing it at church while clearly not knowing the meaning of what they're saying.
Some of these kids look scared while singing this creepy ass song, and they don't even know yet why they're right to be scared.
I'm particularly amused by this one, where they used puppets to sing about being sheep.
The hilarity of that pairing has me feeling compelled to point out again that this shit is real.
And it seems to work well enough to have them still singing it years later.
I'm still very much against lumping all Christians together, but these Christians aren't helping themselves by embracing being sheep. They seriously think it's a good thing to compare themselves to an animal whose reputation is for blindly following orders even when it gets them killed, and they're teaching this mindset to young children who then grow up having taken this message to heart and thinking it's fun.
Will I learn next that they're comparing themselves to lemmings?
I'm tempted to ask what other songs are out there like this one, but I'm afraid of finding something even worse. The silver lining I get from this pile of creepy is a newfound appreciation for my favorite Cake song.
I'd rather be fuckin' goat.
At most, I'd be my own kind of sheep.
I also regularly encounter disturbing things about Christianity that Christians think are good things. Thanks to Dogma Debate, I recently found something that fits both categories.
This is a real children's song. I understand the inclination to think this is fake, but it is quite real. They are teaching this song to children.
And having them sing it at church while clearly not knowing the meaning of what they're saying.
Some of these kids look scared while singing this creepy ass song, and they don't even know yet why they're right to be scared.
I'm particularly amused by this one, where they used puppets to sing about being sheep.
The hilarity of that pairing has me feeling compelled to point out again that this shit is real.
And it seems to work well enough to have them still singing it years later.
I'm still very much against lumping all Christians together, but these Christians aren't helping themselves by embracing being sheep. They seriously think it's a good thing to compare themselves to an animal whose reputation is for blindly following orders even when it gets them killed, and they're teaching this mindset to young children who then grow up having taken this message to heart and thinking it's fun.
Will I learn next that they're comparing themselves to lemmings?
I'm tempted to ask what other songs are out there like this one, but I'm afraid of finding something even worse. The silver lining I get from this pile of creepy is a newfound appreciation for my favorite Cake song.
I'd rather be fuckin' goat.
At most, I'd be my own kind of sheep.
I would point out that "sheep" doesn't have a single metaphorical significance. If you'll remember, Christ is called the "good shepherd," and followers of Christ or of YHWH are frequently called sheep in a very different sense from how we might proverbially think of sheep these days.
ReplyDeleteIs there any context in which they use the term "sheep" without meaning following uncritically?
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