'God Bless America,' sung by gospel singers such as GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain, was not written by a Christian

As a tribute to 9/11, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain released a music video (posted below) to the tune of God Bless America.  Sounds of screaming, crying, and news announcements, coupled with graphic images of the terror attacks and an image of a tattered American flag rippling in the wind, accompany Cain's singing.  Among other things, Cain is an amateur gospel singer who released an album, Sunday Morning.

Americans might assume that a song like God Bless America was written by a Christian.  That's not so.

It was written by the award-winning and prolific songwriter Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised in 1938.  As the Freedom From Religion Foundation notes, Berlin was a Jewish agnostic who did not believe in an afterlife.  Although he reportedly did not like Christmas, Berlin's list of hits includes White Christmas.

D. Beeksma

One of the growing crowd of American "nones" herself, Deborah is a prolific writer who finds religion, spirituality and the impact of belief (and non-belief) on culture inspiring, fascinating and at times, disturbing. She hosts the God Discussion show and handles the site's technical work. Her education and background is in business, ecommerce and law.

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