Today in “songs that children should not be singing at school (or ever)” news, a California middle school teacher made her students sing a song about spreading Islam with some very questionable lyrics. When even local Islam leaders in the community are unhappy with the words used to “support” their religion, you know something is wrong. It may have been a well-meaning gesture on the teacher’s part, but the lyrics would lead us to believe otherwise.
Here are just some of the song’s lyrics, via Mediaite:
This is their fight song
Spread Islam now song
Prove that they’re right song
Other verses proudly declare that they “don’t really care if no Jews or [Christians] believe,” and “Islam… Allah’s on the way.”
On one hand, parents being upset that children would choose to follow Allah and convert to Islam just because they’re singing a song about the religion is a wee bit overreactive and also possibly racist. Learning about another religion’s beliefs does not automatically mean that someone will start following that religion. In fact, it’s good for middle school kids to be exposed to world religions (just not with a song like this).
On the other hand, forcing kids to sing a song about any religion is questionable and parents are right to be worried about what kids are exposed to at school. Not to mention that the lyrics are decidedly negative. Also, another thing to think about here is that the song was performed to the tune of the recent hit “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. They say all publicity is good publicity, but this can’t be the most optimal form of exposure for the up-and-coming artist.
(via Mediaite)