A Soulforce Songbook?

[suzer1013]

Hi everyone. This is a thought I shared with RevTJ this weekend, and I thought I'd get some input here.

One thing we did at the FOF protest this weekend was sing some songs. I tried to pick out songs that were the least "offensive" to non-Christians, but unfortunately, most of the justice-seeking type songs that I know are often hymns or came up through the civil rights movement, which of course was heavily influenced by Christianity. I know not everyone involved in Soulforce is Christian, and certainly not everyone at the protest was Christian. In fact, so many GLBT people have been hurt by Christianity, that some people may have felt uncomfortable with any spiritual aspect of the protest at all.

I know we've got quite a few musicians here, and y'all might be familiar with some songs already. What I'm wondering is if Soulforce, as an organization, might want to come up with a "songbook" of sorts, for people to use at future actions? Perhaps hymn tunes could be used, with words changed to fit the event. Or perhaps some folks are more familiar with songs that might not be so heavily Christian influenced? Many of the civil rights era songs I researched were Christian, or the words were very specifically regarding race only.

It's just a thought. I know we can't please everyone all the time, but even the songs that I thought were the most innocuous, when I looked at them again through the eyes of non-Christian, had a very overtly Christian message. If I take part in any future actions, I'd like to be more cognizant of the fact that not everyone here is Christian and that, in fact, that can turn off some of our potential supporters.

Alternatively, having a songbook with peace and justice songs from many different religious backgrounds might work, too. The problem I found was finding a tune that everyone would know.

Any thoughts?

Susan

[kara speltz]

Originally Posted by suzer1013

One thing we did at the FOF protest this weekend was sing some songs. I tried to pick out songs that were the least "offensive" to non-Christians, but unfortunately, most of the justice-seeking type songs that I know are often hymns or came up through the civil rights movement, which of course was heavily influenced by Christianity. I know not everyone involved in Soulforce is Christian, and certainly not everyone at the protest was Christian. In fact, so many GLBT people have been hurt by Christianity, that some people may have felt uncomfortable with any spiritual aspect of the protest at all.

I know we've got quite a few musicians here, and y'all might be familiar with some songs already. What I'm wondering is if Soulforce, as an organization, might want to come up with a "songbook" of sorts, for people to use at future actions?
Alternatively, having a songbook with peace and justice songs from many different religious backgrounds might work, too. The problem I found was finding a tune that everyone would know.

Any thoughts?

Susan

Dear Susan: Actually, Soulforce has done that for a couple of our protests. I'll try to find the latest one that we created and see if we can find a way to make it public.


The Civil Rights Movement understood the power of song to get our message across and keep our spirits high. Hopefully the songbook would be in constant change. One of the newer songs I discovered was on a Peter Paul & Mary album. We taught it at the Catholic actions. It's called, "Have you been to jail for justice?" I'll go through some of my old files and see if I can find what we've put together, already.

Kara

[suzer1013]

Thank you, Kara! I had hoped maybe there was already something put together. Whatever you can share would be great!

Blessings...

Susan