Think of the cheerful song of "ring around the rosie" and the black death, then you'll get it.
Most people hear it as ‘patriotic’ background music. But it’s actually a gnostic hymn celebrating the nation as a vengeful god of slaughter. Almost Islamic in spirit.
You’re right about Howe’s blood-lust Unitarianism. Like Thaddeus Stevens, Howe had a genocidal mania against the South that made Lincoln seem like a veritable Mahatma Gandhi by comparison.
I found dark comedy in Dubya playing the tune for the Pope when he visited in 2008.
In those days, Unitarians were still considered Christians, and thought themselves Christians.
PistolPaknMama: "She despised Southerners and the entire song is about the slaughter of Southerners and the perfect world she envisioned after everything was destroyed to her liking."
Without doubt, Howe despised slavery and those who defended it.
But it was a war, for Christ's sake!
Hundreds of thousands of young men were dying.
Howe's song was inspirational for troops going into battle, and totally, totally Christian.
Consider the fifth & sixth verses:
"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on."He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on."
PistolPaknMama: "She no doubt wove together a beautiful song to tell her very dark story."
She wrote a beautiful song to inspire troops facing death, period, end of story.
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/11/battle-hymn-of-republic.html
“What motivated the writing of the song?”
“As pointed out above, Dr. and Mrs. Howe were fiercely opposed to slavery and even funded militant abolitionists before the Civil War. They were therefore very much in support of the war, and even though Dr. Howe was too old to enlist he did what he could to support the war effort by serving on the Sanitary Commission.
Mrs. Howe lamented the fact that she could not make a greater contribution towards the war effort. In her own words:
“I distinctly remember that a feeling of discouragement came over me as I drew near the city of Washington at the time already mentioned. I thought of the women of my acquaintance whose sons or husbands were fighting our great battle; the women themselves serving in the hospitals, or busying themselves with the work of the Sanitary Commission. My husband, as already said, was beyond the age of military service, my eldest son but a stripling; my youngest was a child of not more than two years. I could not leave my nursery to follow the march of our armies, neither had I the practical deftness which the preparing and packing of sanitary stores demanded. Some thing seemed to say to me, ‘You would be glad to serve, but you cannot help any one; you have nothing to give, and there is nothing for you to do.’ Yet, because of my sincere desire, a word was given me to say, which did strengthen the hearts of those who fought in the field and of those who languished in the prison.” [v]
(The “word” given her “to say” refers to the Battle Hymn).
Mrs. Howe’s religion
We have already met Howe’s pastor at the time of writing the song. He was Mr. Clarke. Not only was he the Howe’s pastor “for many years,” but he and his wife were close friends of the Howe’s and often accompanied Mrs. Howe on her visits to the troops.
According to Howe’s daughter, another house friend was Theodore Parker, preacher and reformer. He, too, was more than a friend. Mrs Howe was a member of his church for “some time.”[vi]
During Mrs. Howe’s visits to Washington, she would attend the church of the Rev. William Henry Channing whom she greatly admired.[vii]
Who then were Clarke, Parker and Channing, what denomination did they belong to, and what did these men and Mrs Howe believe? Clarke, Parker and Channing were all Unitarian pastors, and were also all members of the Transcendental Club.[viii] In addition, they were all disciples of Ralph Waldo Emerson.[ix] (Channing was also the chaplain to the United States House of Representatives during 1863 and 1864). Not only were they all Unitarians, but they were on the extreme left of already liberal Unitarianism. It is very clear from Mrs. Howe’s writings, as well as of those close to her, that she had no difference of opinion with these men, and that she admired and followed them, and that her own belief system was shaped by theirs. Since they all shared a common theology which has been well documented, we shall examine them as a group in order to determine Mrs Howe’s religion.
What Howe believed
The following brief summary is a composition of some of the distinctives of 19th Century Unitarianism. Note that the majority of the citations are from a book written by Howe’s close friend, pastor and associate – James Freeman Clarke.
Jesus Christ is not God, but just a very good man.[xi]
They did not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin.[xii]
Since miracles cannot be explained by reason, they are rejected.[xiii]
For the same reason, they did not accept that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.[xiv]
Christ did not make atonement for our sins on the cross. Salvation is by “character.”[xv] Basically, all are saved, but need to be “improved” through the process of life.
They do not believe that Jesus Christ will physically return the second time.[xvi]
The Bible is not the infallible, inspired Word of God but is equal to the “Vedas of India, or the Koran, or the Dialogues of Plato, or Wordsworth’s Ode to Immortality.”[xvii]
It becomes exceedingly clear, then, that Mrs. Howe was by no means a Christian in the evangelical or orthodox sense. Her rejection of ALL the essentials of Christian doctrine make her no different than a Hindu, Moslem, or some other religious pagan. She was religious and knew a lot of verses from the Bible, but she was NOT a Christian in any orthodox sense. Not only were Mrs. Howe and her friends not Christians, they were anti-Christ by their rejection of all that Jesus Christ is and did.
This is cardinal to our understanding of the song. It’s “inspiration” therefore cannot be ascribed to the Holy Spirit, nor can its theology be given any credence. We could stop right here and assert that the song should be rejected outright as a worldly song simply on the basis that the author was not a Christian. I am not passing judgment as to whether Christians should sing this song outside of the church – just as they sing the National Anthem or other patriotic songs. That is a matter of personal conscience. But that this song should be banished from Christian worship is patently obvious. Simply because this song has “hymn” in its title does not make it a Christian hymn. This conclusion is reinforced when examining the words of the song.
The Apostle Paul says: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). Julia Ward Howe believed and preached another gospel, yet we allow her to continue to preach in our churches through this song. Instead of agreeing with Paul that she is accursed, we call her blessed! May the Lord have mercy on us for such disobedience and flagrant honoring a heretic and anti-Christ.