this makes me mad ! Jesus is the reason for the seaon!They say freedom of speach until you talk about my Jesus. They try to take Jesus out of everthing ,This country was founded on the Bible.Everybody talks about race we are all in the human race GOD sees no color.we are all created equal.WE have all sinned and come short af the glory of GOD.Stand up for your GOD given right.My children will not take part in anything that takes JESUS out,You cant keep taking GOD out of everthing and exspect this country to survive.JESUS is comming soon.Are you ready?

I do believe that there was over reaction on your part as well.

I'm glad someone is willing to stand up to them .. They say kids learn stuff off tv. It would show that you can learn bad stuff from schools and teachers,,

My goodness, that was one serious altercation with your children's school teacher. Quite frankly I believe in a policy that states "what other people's opinions of me are none of my business." I don't think I would be offended simply because it is probably not the teacher's decision to replace Christ's name with MLK, but it probably is coming from her superiors. I think that if I were in your shoes I would simply tell my children to follow their heart and to sing the song as they learned it, with Christ and Jesus in place of MLK. I can't see the harm in it, and quite frankly they've already removed the Pledge of Allegiance as a mandatory practice. I think the teacher's racist comment sounds like she is quite young and takes issue with the matter because she does not clearly understand it. The Christian thing to do may be to pray for her and in the meantime, let your children sing.."out of the mouths of babes", I think that would be truly admirable and hardly punishable by any means. Best of luck and God Bless you and your family.

I am a Christian myself and I do believe that there was a little bit of an over reaction on your part...It is a song...As long as they're not saying anything bad about Jesus To my kid, I'm cool. And MLK is a man of Christ himself, I don't think it's such a bad thing!

I will do exactly the same, I will tell my kids not to sing that song and no big deal.

This is offensive and can be confusing for young children.
MLK, Jr was no saint and isn't close to being considered the savior of souls. He's only a man. He may have done many good things but he also did many bad things. We need to teach both sides of history.

I will have a good discussion with the teacher in a relax environment such as after school or before the school starts. Is the teacher a Christian?

This may not be a big deal for me because I was raised in another country and my young children have a solid foundation of the word of God. Also, my children sometimes replaced names with others when they are singing some Christian songs and many times, they acted like Jesus, or Moses, or God.

I am a follower of Christ and a practicing Christian with a strong believe in core value of Christ, love and compassion. The above became paramount with my friendship with a Jewish woman and a Chinese young mother. This friendship changed my perceptive of the "religion" and challenged me to focus on the life and work of Jesus not the ideology of religion.

When I had my son, my Jewish friend visited me in the hospital with her family and called many times a week. My Chinese friend, not a Christian, frequently help me out with my daughter. Surprised, an Asian woman bought "Christmas gifts" for my children and permitted her daughter to visit our church regularly. These two women attended my son's dedication service in the church and were very respectful of my place of worship.

Many of my christian's sisters, some of whom I worked with in the Sunday school, did not remember my telephone number or some of them misplaced the number so they did not call me when they heard I had a baby. Note, I called some of them when my baby arrived and one Christian sister told me and others that she did not know that I was pregnant...

My point is your faith, or hero, or need is great or superior, but be careful with other people's faith, beliefs, or ways of life. I think there is an element of truth and good in all religions and as a follower of Christ I have to remember the life of Jesus not how I feel or what I want. Thank God for this great country, the USA.

Do what you think is right for the education of your children and continue to study the life of Jesus Christ and Saul turned St. Paul. Who knows, the teacher might need your help in restructuring her teaching skills or the song.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

It may be that your children's teacher learned the song this way and, consequently, had no clue about the ramifactions of using it in her classroom.

Instead of confronting the teacher, I've found that it works better to have a quiet discussion with the principal about your feelings on this matter. I'm Jewish and my experince has been that Christians seem to have little awareness much less understanding of the pervasiveness of their faith upon those of us who are not Christian.

Your post seems to indicate that this teacher is Islamic, have you considered how hard she is working to share with her students how the fact that Dr. King was a Christian man of faith, used his beliefs to create lasting social change? Just a thought.

Of course your children can't be compelled to sing a song but what message will you be sending if this is how you chose to resolve this issue?

Depends on the song and why they're singing it. I'm assuming this is a public school, by the way.

There is no requirement to keep religion out of public schools. Teachers may use religious symbols, drama, music, and literature for educational purposes, and students can include religious symbols and expression in their work when they are used appropriately in the context of an assignment. Public school teachers may not proselytize, favor one religion over another in the classroom, or encourage or require students to participate in prayer or other religious activities.

So, back to your question. You say the purpose of the original song is to glorify Christ, and that changing its purpose by substituting any other name is offensive. Is this song a hymn? Does the substitution mean that children are now singing that MLK is the savior of all our souls or the son of God? If that's the case, then it sounds like bad judgment on the teacher's part.

If the substitution does not turn MLK into a Jesus-equivalent (i.e, if someone who had never heard the original song would think the MLK version was just a nice song about King, not a religious song glorifying him) then the teacher hasn't acted inappropriately.

There are lots of songs that have had their words changed over the years to serve the singers' varying purposes--religious songs have spawned secular versions, and secular songs have been refashioned for religious purposes. The teacher's changing the words of this song to suit a different purpose doesn't mean that the original has somehow been tainted. If you don't want your children singing this particular song, you have every right to opt them out of it, but accusing the teacher of deliberately attacking your religion (and implying that she would be more respectful of a different religion and therefore is biased against yours) was not the best way to make your point. Assume that she's operating with good intentions, and demonstrate that your intentions are equally good. That's what Jesus would do, after all.

Is your child attending a public school, or a private one? I'd like to say that if your children don't sing the song, it won't be a problem, but if they attend a private school, you might very well find that the individual teacher gives them a lower grade than other students...I hope it's not the case, but unless you can find other parents who object to what this music teacher is doing, and the principal agrees, then it sounds like your children will be dealing with the situation on an annual basis...

I think you are saying that the fact the any words were changed is offensive. It is not about whose name was used - but the fact a substitution had been made.?Unfortunately, you perceived the change in lyrics as an attack on your religious beliefs. The teacher perceived your reaction as being racially motivated instead of religiously driven.
No matter what you decide to do, I think it would be, in the spirit of Christianity,and consistent with the preachings of Dr. King, to talk to the teacher about how this is offensive to your religious beliefs in terms of substituting "man" for "savior". I think that it is necessary to take the focus off of whose name was used - but instead focus on any name change is offensive.

I would be highly offended by this! My wife is Japanese and a butist and I am Baptist, we nonverbally agreed not to pull the children one way or the other. My daughters go to church with me every week and to temple with my wife when she needs to go (since they don't practice on a regular basis) My daughter was just baptized this summer on her own free will with no encouragment from either side. I would recommend that you speak to your children and see how they feel about it, and ecucate them on how to speak to their teacher about this. (Depending on age) The problem you may have is with the large push to keep christ out of schools, and everyones need to always be politically correct. I would speak to the music teacher and see if she can assist in helping the teacher to write an original song about Martin Luther King Jr. if that failed to work... go to the school board. I wish you all of the best on this and you are not alone with the way you feel. God Bless you, Dan