Not singing "O Canada" may be silly, but is it really any sillier than singing it?

When people hear that I refuse to sing O Canada for reasons of faith they’re usually surprised, partly because they don’t take the anthem that seriously. “It’s just the national anthem”, they’ll protest. By the time I’m finished, however, they’ve often discovered a new devotion to their national hymn, and are ready to hang me for high treason. So, let’s proceed with care. Lynching, even for high treason, is still a crime in Canada.

O Canada has an interesting history. Composed by Calixa Lavallée, a well known French Canadian composer, with lyrics by Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier, it was first performed publicly in Quebec City on June 24, 1880. It became popular in Quebec, inspiring several English versions, and gradually the 1908 English lyrics, by Robert Stanley Weir, caught on in English Canada. In the popular mind it gradually replaced God Save the King/Queen, but was not officially proclaimed our national anthem until 1980, when it was adopted with slightly altered lyrics.

Both French and English versions employ poetic allusions to explicitly Christian images. In a culture informed by Christian symbols this works as a poetic device, but it ultimately poses a problem for thoughtful believers and non-believers alike. Consider this English translation of the French version:

O Canada! Land of our forefathers

Your brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.

As your arm is ready to wield the sword,

So also is it ready to carry the cross.

Your history is an epic of the most brilliant exploits.

Your valour steeped in faith

Will protect our homes and our rights

Will protect our homes and our rights. (emphasis mine)

I can’t imagine that the average secular Quebecois can seriously sing the fourth line, or perhaps even the sixth, without holding his or her nose at least a little. I suppose, like most of us, they simply try to think about something else. But the English version is, to me, both more subtly and stridently religious. Consider the official English lyrics:

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide, O Canada,
we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. (emphasis mine)

I have heard many objections to the militarism, sexism, and patriarchal assumptions of this song, but these are not my concerns. This is a hymn addressed to a personification of our country and, whether consciously or not, Canada has been personified as a god, and, more specifically, as the God of Christian faith. I can almost hear the eyes rolling over the clack of my keyboard, so let me hurry on and see if I can build a case.

True patriot love in all thy sons command. This line casts Canada in the role of our father, and us as its (his) sons. Just a poetic image for most Canadians, but a conflict for those of us who regularly, seriously and exclusively pray “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come...” But this is just the beginning.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise, When we’ve sung this line hundreds of times it may seem an obvious thing to say about the nation. Perhaps we really do see Canada rising. But I think there is a deeper allusion here. In Christian imagery it is God who rises, and Christians look to this resurrection in Christ. Such language is powerful, but it makes some of us a little nervous.

The True North strong and free! Again, this may seem an obvious thing to say about a northern country, but for me it is the unfolding of a Christian allusion. When Jesus was asked how one can get to the Father he replied "I am the way and the truth and the life.” Is it not intriguing, in a poetic allusion sort of way, that Canada is not only our father, and rising, but now the “North” (way) the “True” (truth), and the “strong and free” (life)?

For those who don’t agree this may all seem pretty trivial, yet any one of these points makes the song unsingable for me. But in 1980 a line was added that seals the deal as far as I’m concerned.

God keep our land glorious and free! Many people have never even noticed that this is a prayer, but for someone who prays regularly, and often publicly, it’s not just a prayer, it’s a ghastly prayer. I cannot imagine myself going before God to pray about my glory, or the glory of my nation. And when, as a preacher, I do pray publicly, I often pray The Lord’s Prayer, which ends, “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. To go before God with the request that he keep us glorious is more, which is to say less, than I can do.

I’m not expecting everyone, or even anyone, to agree with me about any of this, of course. I’m just hoping that some who have wondered why anyone would have a problem with O Canada will now have a better idea.

And there is actually a beautiful national song in which the poet, a secular Jew, expresses what I think is an appropriate love for country. This song has become an unofficial national anthem for many in the nation in question, and I’ll consider it in my next post.