Anyone who believes that America was not founded and built by people with strong Christian values needs to take another look at our patriotic songs. Many are laced with references to the Divine. Here are the words to some of the best known and most widely sung patriotic songs ever written.
My country, 'tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty Of thee I sing; Land
where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims' pride, From every mountain
side Let Freedom ring.
My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love; I
love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills, My heart with
rapture thrills Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet Freedom's
song; Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks
their silence break, The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God to Thee, Author of Liberty, To thee we sing, Long
may our land be bright With Freedom's holy light, Protect us by thy
might Great God, our King.
Our glorious Land to-day, 'Neath Education's sway, Soars upward
still. Its hills of learning fair, Whose bounties all may share, Behold
them everywhere On vale and hill!
Thy safeguard, Liberty, The school shall ever be, Our Nation's
pride! No tyrant hand shall smite, While with encircling might All here
are taught the Right With Truth allied.
Beneath Heaven's gracious will The stars of progress still Our course
do sway; In unity sublime To broader heights we climb, Triumphant over
Time, God speeds our way!
Grand birthright of our sires, Our altars and our fires Keep we still
pure! Our starry flag unfurled, The hope of all the world, In peace and
light impearled, God hold secure!
God Bless America. Land that I love Stand beside her, and guide
her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the
prairies , To the oceans, white with foam God bless America My home
sweet home.
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple
mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God
shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to
shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern, impassioned
stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America!
America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in
self-control, Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In
liberating strife. Who more than self the country loved And mercy more
than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success
be nobleness And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by
human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown
thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for
halcyon skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain
majesties Above the enameled plain! America! America! God shed his
grace on thee Till souls wax fair as earth and air And music-hearted
sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet, Whose stern impassioned
stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America !
America ! God shed his grace on thee Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for
glory-tale Of liberating strife When once and twice, for man's
avail Men lavished precious life ! America! America! God shed his
grace on thee Till selfish gain no longer stain The banner of the
free!
O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the
years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America!
America! God shed his grace on thee Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling
out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the
fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching
on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory!
Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps They have
builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous
sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on. Glory!
Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His
day is marching on.
I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel; “As ye deal
with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”; Let the Hero, born of
woman, crush the serpent with His heel, Since God is marching on. Glory!
Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since
God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is
sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; Oh, be swift, my
soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet; Our God is marching on. Glory!
Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our
God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory
in His bosom that transfigures you and me: As He died to make men holy, let
us live to make men free; [originally …let us die to make
men free] While God is marching on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory!
Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave, He is wisdom to
the mighty, He is honor to the brave; So the world shall be His footstool,
and the soul of wrong His slave, Our God is marching on. Glory! Glory!
Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is
marching on.
