ERICKSON: Freedom of is not freedom from

What a silly thing. The West Laurens High School Band has been requested to stop playing “Amazing Grace” because it is a Christian hymn. It also happens to be one of the most recognizable songs in the entire world. It has been sung by prisoners in prison camps and slaves on American plantations.

John Newton had been forced against his will into the Royal Navy. A man of no religion, he made his way in the Navy with the degree anyone forced into something against his will would do. Upon leaving, he took up the slave trade.

In 1748, off the coast of Ireland, Newton’s boat ran into trouble in a terrible storm. The boat suffered damage and Newton, so scared of the wind and fury around him, cried out to God for help. It began his spiritual journey and, while waiting for the boat to be repaired, he penned the first verse of his poem. He once was lost, but then was found. He was blind, but then he saw.

In less than a decade he gave up the slave trade for the study of theology and the ministry. During his ministry he finished his poem and it became immediately popular. Many who wrote about it then and now have noted the beginnings of the hymn were clearly an allusion to Newton wrestling with the slave trade.

In the latter part of the 18th century, William Wilberforce and John Newton collaborated together on abolishing the slave trade. “Amazing Grace” became the anthem to the cause. It was picked up in North America during the Second Great Awakening and became more a national anthem in the United States than a hymn.

It was sung by both Union and Confederate soldiers and sung by slaves in the field. In Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Tom sang three of the verses. In just the past month, President Obama sang “Amazing Grace” from the pulpit of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church while giving the eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, pne of the nine killed in that church in Charleston.

To tell a high school band that they should not be playing “Amazing Grace” is ridiculous. The organization demanding the high school stop playing “Amazing Grace” is Americans United, which used to be called Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The organization has long taken the position that the First Amendment’s guarantee of “freedom of religion” should be interpreted as “freedom from religion.”

The organization wants no references made to religion, though Christian traditions have deep, deep underpinnings in our society that even the United States Supreme Court acknowledges to be lawful. But the organization bullies schools and local governments knowing they might not have the money to spend on a lawsuit.

The Laurens County Board of Education should fight this and tell the atheists no. “Amazing Grace” is more than a Christian hymn. It is woven into the fabric of our society, sung by the mothers of Union and Confederate dead, sung by slaves yearning for freedom and sung by abolitionists who demanded that freedom. The hymn was sung by Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama and most presidents in between.

Americans United is a group of atheist bullies. At the end of May, these bullies demanded the Laurens County school system impose a moment of silence at football games instead of a prayer. The system complied. At this year’s moment of silence, many loudly recited the Lord’s Prayer. This year, the Laurens County Board of Education should remember that “grace hath brought (them) safe thus far, and grace will lead (them) home.” Keep playing the song.

Erick Erickson is a Fox News contributor and radio talk show host in Atlanta.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 9:35 PM with the headline "ERICKSON: Freedom of is not freedom from ."