Some churches have found themselves targets of skepticism, particularly after Independence Day stunts that received media attention.
In 2004, a Texas church arranged for Marines to rappel in the sanctuary. In Kentucky, cannons fired confetti onto worshipers at a service in 2005.
Other churches receive skepticism for not being patriotic enough. The United Methodist Church fields enough inquiries about the relatively small number of patriotic songs in the hymnal that it discusses the issue on the Web site of the General Board of Discipleship.
"Sometimes the questions about our hymnal are asked with a considerable amount of hostility or anger, often coupled with an inference that The United Methodist Church and its agencies are lacking in patriotism or national pride," writes Dean B. McIntyre, the director of music resources for the General Board of Discipleship.
The hymnal, he adds, does include such classics as America (My Country 'Tis of Thee) and America the Beautiful . The Star-Spangled Banner and God Bless America are not included.
The Star-Spangled Banner is also absent from the Lutheran Book of Worship and the Presbyterian Hymnal . It can, however, be found in The Baptist Hymnal and The Hymnal, used by the Episcopalian Church.
A LOOK AT SOME LYRICS
"Our father's God to thee; author of liberty; to thee we sing. Long may our land be bright, with freedom's holy light;
Protect us by thy might, great God our king."
- America (My Country 'Tis of Thee), which appears in Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian and Methodist hymnals
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on."
- The Battle Hymn of the Republic, in Baptist, Church of God, Presbyterian and Methodist hymnals
"God of our fathers, Whose almighty hand leads forth in beauty all the starry band; Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies, our grateful songs before thy throne arise."
- God of Our Fathers, written by a Vermont pastor who wanted to celebrate the American Centennial in 1876
"O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea."
- America the Beautiful, written as poetry in 1893, set to music by a Baptist preacher in 1904
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