News-Record.com

Nancy, what a PERFECT example of why we need more arts in our schools. Everyone in Guilford County can be enormously proud of these talented young men and women.

It's good to hear that nice things are going on at my old school. Congrats!

What's this?! a GOSPEL choir. Why aren't the separation nuts clamoring all over this one. Perhaps for the same reason that minority churches get a pass for political involvements. IF this were a "Christain Choir" I wonder what the reactions would be. I mention all this simply because this is a blog.

But aside from the PC issues here, congratulations are definitely in order! Personally I think it's great that a high school can have a Gospel Choir. But, as I say, it doesn't jive with the large scale attempts of humanist separationists to squelch ANY Christian or religous expressions in the public arena - especially in their main propaganda mills: the public schools.

We are a gospel choir. We are a Christian based organization in the school. Please don't take this and make it a normal choir. The kids have worked very hard. This is a big deal, don't you think?

"The separation nuts" have already had their way in the public schools! That's why the students, parents and volunteers had to work so hard to raise money in order for these tireless and dedicated young people to do something positive for their school and community. The community should know that these students traveled all night by bus (to lessen expenses) to compete that same evening. Then, having stayed up until the post-midnight judging without having eaten, performed and won the competition the very next morning! The question we should ask is, if a Christian group of volunteers can succeed in cultivating unity and respect without school funding, why can't non-Christian groups of paid staff succeed in like manner with school funding?

All Christian efforts in the secular schools are done under duress. You are constantly scrutinized, muzzled, and hassled. It’s like swimming with a snow suit on. In the end Jesus’ words apply: “You can’t serve God and mammon.” The history of the God-centered life, in the OT and the NT, is that we are to “come out from among them” and build the Promised Land on Faith. Abraham had to leave Ur of the Chaldees. Moses and the Israelites had to leave Egypt. The Church was called upon to “leave” the world spiritually. Christians are still called to be a separate people, seeking first the Kingdom of God.

That said; there is also the principle, especially in the NT, of being salt and light in the world. But I really don’t think this principle means sending impressionable youths into the Babylon of unbelief, humanistic ideologies, immorality, and drugs (kids are caught every day using and peddling them in the schools). It would be great if all Christian young people could be educated either in home schools or good Christian schools.

But for the time being, it is not possible. So, Christian youth must be supported and encouraged in their efforts to be “children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom (they) shine as lights in the world.” Sounds like this choir of dedicated young people shone brightly.

Some have advanced the proposition that we should not abandon the schools to the neo-marxists, humanists, atheists, et al.; but should rather take them back. That would be great, if it could really be done. But I believe it’s too late, and that they will collapse under their own weight. I’m not saying they will totally fold up; but that the consequences of godless unbelief and immorality will become so manifest that our culture will at last demand quantum changes, one of which will be the orienting of all education to God and His Law/Word. Oh, that could never happen, you say. We shall see. Maybe not next year; but given time, all godless systems become a black hole that consumes them: Hitler, the USSR, slavery, etc. If the evening news is any indicator, perhaps it will be next year!

"We are a gospel choir. We are a Christian based organization in the school."

Does this mean that this is a group of Christian students that meet and operate on an extracurricular basis? If so, then there should be no worries regarding church-state issues, should there? Rock on, kiddo.

"All Christian efforts in the secular schools are done under duress."

Nikos, why do you feel it is necessary to keep pumping out the same tired, empty propaganda? No one pressured these kids to stay away from the school or to disband. No one told them what they had to or couldn't perform. They gathered together on their own and operated in the religious freedom that the Constitution guarantees them.

And before you go whining about the lack of school funding, ask yourself this: Would you also want the school to fund a group of Muslim Dervishes, or Buddhist dancers? If so, I would be very surprised indeed. But that is what would need to happen if the school were to support this student group. Equal treatment for all is the rule they live by in the school system. If you're outside the school's purview, then you don't get school funding.

"...if a Christian group of volunteers can succeed in cultivating unity and respect without school funding, why can't non-Christian groups of paid staff succeed in like manner with school funding?"

The answer is that they can and have. When I was a student at Smith, I was in the orchestra. We often competed in events all around the region and won several awards. I and a few others were even selected one for a special orchestra that went to perform in Wilmington for a world premier of a choral symphony. I just thought you ought to know that.

"...if a Christian group of volunteers can succeed in cultivating unity and respect without school funding, why can't non-Christian groups of paid staff succeed in like manner with school funding?"

The answer is that they can and have. When I was a student at Smith, I was in the orchestra. We often competed in events all around the region and won several awards. I and a few others were even selected one year for a special orchestra that went to perform in Wilmington for a world premier of a choral symphony. I just thought you ought to know that.

Cool your heels namtac! We don't need proof that public school can succeed! We need accountability when they do not! Two years ago Ben L. Smith was labeled a "failing" school. We now see that the school is a success creatively through a non-funded, extracurricular activity as well as academically. So why was it labeled "failing"? The choir (families, staff and volunteers) sacrifices evenings and weekends to prepare, and they sacrificed sleep and meals (not to mention money) to perform. The community stepped-up with financial donations. The fundmental teaching of the Bible is that love is circular. If everyone gives love, everyone receives love. When the pattern breaks down, things fail. When we don't 'feel' like loving or we don't 'feel' loved, our love for God (Who is unfailing in love) prevents the circle from breaking down. Smith was labeled "failing" because someone(s) stopped loving/giving. This was a micrcosm of what is happening to our society in general, and how it can be rectified.

Namtac, Mu positon I thought was clear. I don;t really want religious activities in our publoic schools. I want no public schools, i.e. government dunded/run schools. I was a bad idea that has gotten consiferably worse.