School Band BANNED From Performing Hymn, So Crowd Does THIS (4 Pics)

 In the ongoing war on the Christian religion in America, one of the main targets of atheists, socialists, and pseudo-religious liberals is the public school.

Whenever the word “God” is even mentioned in a public school these days, alarm bells go off and the closest ACLU lawyer is immediately dispatched, lawsuit paperwork in hand.

It has gotten downright silly in our day and age.  Liberals are proving over and over again that they are the most intolerant species on the planet.

Most recent case in point – a high school band in Mississippi was enjoined by a federal judge from performing a song with religious significance at a football half time show.

Christian News Network has the story:

BRANDON, Miss. — A high school band was nixed from the halftime show of the season-opening football game on Friday after district officials said that the band’s plans to perform “How Great Thou Art” violated a federal court order against school promotion of religion.

“The Rankin County School Board and District Office are very saddened students will not be able to perform their halftime show they have worked so hard on this summer,” the district wrote in a statement.

As previously reported, last month, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves fined the district $7,500 for contempt after he agreed with the American Humanist Association (AHA) that a consent decree from a recent lawsuit involving the district had been violated.

“Defendants are permanently enjoined from including prayer, religious sermons or activities in any school sponsored event including but not limited to assemblies, graduations, award ceremonies, athletic events and any other school event,” Reeves wrote. “That means administrators, teachers and staff of the Rankin County School District may not participate in any religious activity, or solicit or encourage religious activities at school or while performing duties as a RCSD employee.”

He threatened the district with a $10,000 fine each for any additional violation.

 Charisma News also reported the incident:

There was no halftime show under the Friday night lights at Mississippi’s Brandon High School—the marching band had been benched.

The band was ordered off the field because the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art” was a part of their halftime show—in violation of a federal court order.

“The Rankin County School Board and District Office are very saddened students will not be able to perform their halftime show they have worked so hard on this summer,” the district wrote in a statement to the Clarion Ledger newspaper.

And, EAGnews also weighed in on the story:

What happens at band camp, apparently stays at band camp.

The Brandon High School band practiced for months in the heat to perform a special half-time song during the current football season, but a court order over the summer means it was all for nothing, News Channel 3 reports.

The marching band was benched from playing “How Great Thou Art” during last Friday’s football game halftime show over a court order this summer that prohibits any religious-type activity on campus.

So, how did the good citizens of Brandon respond to this radical judge’s threat?

 Charisma News explains what happened next:

Word about the band getting benched spread across the town quicker than kudzu. I must have received emails and Facebook messages from nearly the entire state—from Desoto County to Yazoo City.

Something must be done to right this wrong, people said. A message had to be sent to the likes of Judge Reeves. Locals gathered in coffee shops and garages to devise their plan.

And what they did—would become known as the musical shot heard around the world.

During halftime of Friday night’s game—a lone voice began to sing the forbidden song.

“Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,” the singer sang.

Brittany Mann was there and she witnessed the entire moment of defiance.

“We were just sitting there and then one by one people started to stand,” she told me. “At first, it started out as a hum but the sound got louder and louder.”

She said it was a “truly incredible” moment to watch hundreds of people singing together in the stadium.

“At that moment I was so proud of my town—coming together and taking a stand for something we believe in,” she said. “It breaks my heart to see where our country is going—getting farther and farther away from the Christian beliefs that our country was founded on.”

EAGnews also has more about the crowd’s response:

Parents and community members, however, are not bound by the court order, and they showed their support for students and God by performing their own impromptu rendition of “How Great Thou Art” that’s seen been viewed well over 100,000 times on YouTube.

Three-quarters of the spectators at Friday’s game stood in the stands and proudly bellowed the classic hymn as several recorded with their phones before breaking out in cheer.

The crowd’s response to the band’s prohibition was undoubtedly music to the ears of local Salvation Army Captain Ken Chapman, who spoke out about the attack on religious students in the district to WJTV 12.

“I’m saying it’s time for Christians and other people to stand up and say we’re not going to take this anymore we’re going to make a difference, we’re going to be heard,” he said.

This is just the latest example of the federal courts being 180 degrees out of phase with the American people and the school boards that cower before them.

But, this is just one of the consequences of allowing Democrats and RINOs to select the judges they want to sit on federal benches. (This particular judge was appointed to the federal bench by President Obama in 2010.)

In America, we no longer have thoughtful, Constitutionally-consistent jurists.  We have ideological radicals who have the temerity to believe they know best for all the rest of us “ignorant” citizens.

But, at least one crowd at a Mississippi Friday night football game loudly disagreed with them.