Well! I guess I can't even attempt to change the people around here. You all can be atheists or whatever, but I when national anthems have religious references. Maybe unsuitable for a US anthem, since this country was founded by Deists and other non-religious people, and as I can see, there's still a lot of you out there. You can call ME a Philistine, but I always liked the German National Anthem (Deutschland Uber Allles) before the Nazis used it as their anthem. It was written by Franz Josef Haydn, after all! I guess what everyone wants is a anthem not about war, not about people, not about God, and easy to sing. How about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? How would you react if we changed the anthem to "God Bless The U.S.A" by Lee Greenwood. Oops! Mentioned a certain religion's deity--can't use that! Maybe I shouldn't reply to this thread, I'm getting all riled up. Sorry. I am by no means a religious zealot, but I don't like to see anyone's religion slammed because some folks don't follow it...

--Mbo (I tried singing the National Anthem this morning, and it is easyyyy! Especially if it's sung by a baritone register)