(Editor’s note: The following is a short missive I received in my email inbox Sunday evening. The author, a former minister in the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, is opposed to militaristic imperialism and said so. I felt his thoughts were worth sharing, so his essay is reprinted here.):
By Bruce Gereneser
I am a diehard Cincinnati Reds fan. Come hell, high water or a losing season, I watch or listen to every Reds game. Currently, John Sadak and Jeff “Cowboy” Brantley call most of the games on TV. Every Sunday, fans are treated to the singing of God Bless America. I either mute or fast-forward through the sound—a minor annoyance, to be sure, but an annoyance, nonetheless.
Today, Sadak called the singing of God Bless America a “Sunday tradition” to which I politely replied “B.S.” The singing of God Bless America is a post-9/11 innovation. This [song] may have had a unifying effect 25 years ago, but today it is a song glorifying militarism and imperialism—complete with military planes or helicopters flying overhead.
The same goes for unfurling a field-sized U.S. flag while a soloist or group belts out the un-singable war song, The Star Spangled Banner. More flyovers, too; an ever-present witness to our military might. Little do younger adults know that there was a time when we didn’t worship nationalism and Christianity. Today, we wave the flag of American exceptionalism with nary a thought. Sadak furthers this narrative by implying that singing God Bless America during the seventh inning of Reds’ game[s] is a Sunday tradition. It is not, and never has been. Singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning six days a week…now that’s a baseball tradition.
When I turn on the Reds, I want to watch the game, not listen to masturbatory worship of American nationalism. Sadak might want to consider that many people in the stands and at home aren’t supporters of decades of military interventions and deaths across the globe—people who recognize the need for self-defense, but not wars over natural resources, communism, regime change and geography. Or even worse, wars fought solely based on lies.
Count me as a patriotic Reds fan who wants military-free ballgames. I don’t believe for a moment that soldiers are dying in the Middle East so we can enjoy Sunday baseball games at home. Not in my name, I say. I don’t want one drop of innocent blood shed for the “American Dream,” another barrel of oil, or Donald Trump’s war fantasy.
(Bruce Gereneser, 68, is a former minister of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church who now resides in Ohio.)
Louisiana Voice 
Leave a comment