Unpopular opinion: Does anyone in the US also feel that "America, The Beautiful" should be the US National Anthem over "Star Spangled Banner"?

[smahala1991]

To me is a more beautiful song. It invokes a lot more emotion. Star Spangled Banner is more about war and not really sending much of a glorious message about how vast and beautiful the country is unlike a lot of other national anthem like "Deutschland Uber Alles", "Rule Britannia" or "Advance Australia Fair" . It's just my two cents though.

[Dennisnky]

Definitely not. This country is largely about war. We have the most powerful advanced military the world has ever seen, and for a long time we have spent 10x what the 2nd place country in military spending has spent on the military. And in every generation we meddle where we don't belong, even if it's in an effort to help.

Also, in that other song, God is in every verse, and this is a secular country, with freedom of religion as one of the core defining principles of purpose. I think having God called out throughout would make people make the wrong assumption that it's always meant to be a Christian nation, which it's never been--the founders never intended on a "Christian nation".

Thomas Jefferson said "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding"... and he also said "... meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammeden, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination..."

Christians have tried to change that history. "In God We Trust" was first placed on United States coins in 1861, during the Civil War. Teddy Roosevelt rightfully tried to remove the words from our money in 1907 but was shouted down. Only in 1956 was that expression adopted as the national motto by the 84th Congress. The clause "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was inserted only in 1954.

So no. I think if we want to change the national anthem it should be a song that definitely mentions war but also reinforces peace among us despite diversity of thought, histories, and ancestry.

[smahala1991]

Well God Save the Queen/King also has God in it

[NathanDavis]

hardly ever, anything more emotional than the sons and daughters of a nation giving their lives for their mother land...

the Mexican national anthem is pretty much about the same... lol

and I always performed both with the same emotion and joy...

both anthems are an ode to history and the births of both nations and not just a modern popularity contest to appeal to the ever changing preferences of people over time... lol

[Anonymous]

No, I would do lee Greenwood's, "God Bless the USA" but really you need to do something closer to the founding. So keep the Star Spangled banner.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Yes, I agree