Tuesday, November 26, 2013

NBC "The Voice" Omits 'Lord' from Will the Circle be Unbroken

Social media is on fire this November 26th evening after contestants sang an altered version of a classic gospel hymn 'Will the Circle Unbroken' and left out the word Lord.
What are your thoughts? Even Blake Shelton responded to one of the tweets saying Don't look at me! I sang it the way I grew up on it.

My two cents? When you remove God/Lord etc from anything you are taking a side, "rights are not being protected" as many claim. Someone's beliefs are being taken away, and someone else's beliefs are being supported. It's taking a side and that's exactly why we already see people happy about it that are not Christians, and people upset that are Christians. We live in a world that wants to claim to be "tolerant", however they are not tolerant of the millions of Christians and their beliefs.

This situation is particularly puzzling because the executive producer of the show is Mark Burnett, an outspoken Christian who recently produced The Bible series. Excuses are already flowing about having to use a public domain version of the song which doesn't have Lord in it. They clearly sang the song like the modern version though! The word "oh," that replaces "Lord" in "The Voice" performance isn't in the public domain lyrics. In addition "The Voice" version omitted the several verses that mention "Savior" and "Heaven" that are included in the public domain version. 

UPDATE: Click here for video along with the lyrics sheet so you can compare the modified  lyrics of the original hymn.



Check out my related blog on

Hollywood's use of "GD" and "Jesus" in movies


34 comments:

  1. I was totally disgusted by what I heard. Was first off surprised that they were singing a gospel song but then took note of the replacement of the word "Lord" with the word "Ohhhh" Then it dawned on me, they were only following the lead of their president whom read a version of the Gettysburg Address that omits the word "God".

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    1. I totally agree with you. "Will the circle be unbroken" was a song that was sung at my Mom's funeral and when they left out the word "Lord" I was offended as a Christian. I don't understand why we must conform to everyone elses beliefs. Don't sing a gospel song if you aren't going to sing it was way it originated.

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  2. To NBC - Thank You very much for protecting the rights of ALL Americans by removing the word lord from the lyrics to Circle Unbroken last night. I am an Agnostic and though I am not all that offended by the word lord I am very offended by the way some people force their religious views on others in this country and world. You did the absolute correct thing removing it from the lyrics, please stand your ground on this issue and do it as many times as needed in the future. If you lose some viewer so be it, they are narrow minded and prejudice in their views anyway, OBVIOUSLY. Keep up the good work you did the absolute right thing, thank you for protecting MY rights and everyones' rights.

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    1. As long as you are happy, that's all that matters, right? Who cares about anybody else but what you believe, right? Nobody is forcing anything on you, they were the ones that picked the song and altered it, there are millions of other songs they could have chosen without defacing one.

      "Everyone's rights" as you said aren't being protected when you start removing things already in place, like In God we trust from money which was on there LONG before anybody reading this was born!

      When you remove God/Lord etc from anything you are taking a side, and NOBODY's rights are being protected in that case. Someone's beliefs are being taken away, and someone else's beliefs are being supported, PERIOD.

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    2. Are you kidding? Christians want the word in the song, but can you account for all the other people watching the show? No, you can't. You're not "taking a side" by removing a few words in a song, you're making it so that everyone can enjoy it no matter if they believe in the "Lord" or not. It doesn't all have to be what christians want, you know that, right?

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    3. May I ask what the difference in a Christian pushing their beliefs on me or you forcing yours on me. Not one iota difference. If the higher ups at NBC were worried about offending people with the word lord then they should not have chosen a gospel song. So bottom line is I am more offended by you the Agnostics, the Atheist, etc shoving yours down others throats.

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    4. I will not be watching anymore of the show. It was my favorite show. But I think they should have left the song out. Then no one is offended.

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    5. Pamela Ann that is completely irrational. They sang the word Lord in the Hallelujah song this season. And they sang How great thou art too. I think that illustrates they dont have a problem with religious references.

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    6. To anonymous, if you are agnostic, then do you believe that your better home is awaiting in the sky? That is the whole meaning behind the song so why would you remove the "Lord" from a song that is specifically written to glorify what we Christians see as a promise before us. You don't have to believe what I believe and I don't have to believe what you believe but I also don't walk around singing songs about your beliefs.

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  3. I humbly disagree with you. I am a Christian and I don't feel like my rights are being violated when they take a word out of a hymn on a silly television show. As long as I'm not being arrested, humiliated, or shot in the back of the head for my beliefs....I'm not worried about it. I really do feel that Jesus isn't either. Not His style to interfere with politics or social conformity. We're commanded to love God, and love others. That's where I stand, anyway.

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    1. Just because Jesus didn't come up on the stage and punish everyone who omitted Lord, doesn't mean He doesn't care. If Jesus was all over everything that took away His name He would tire himself out over nothing. He sees all, and those who refuse to acknowledge Him in Every thing will get their punishment in due time.

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  4. The frog has been swimming around in the pot of cold water with the heat turned up on HIGH now for about 50-years...he is boiling...but he STILL doesn't realize it! That's what has been happening in America, and what I hear from so called Christians in America doesn't surprise me either. Peace, love, and tranquility...strawberry fields forever, as long as it doesn't affect me. Well it DOES affect you, and more importantly, it will affect your legacy (kids, grands, great grands, etc.) WAKE UP from your slumber. Allow the Lord to STAND UP inside you. Stand for something.

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  5. What about songs where lyrics are removed to appease Christians who don't want to hear words like "damn" and "poop" and "boob". Christians seem to believe only their point of view matters and that it should be catered to. It's bad enough we have "under god" in our pledge, on our money. It's about time you keep your faith to yourselves.

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    1. News flash, profanity is offensive to other people besides Christians! Plenty of parents of young kids that don't want people dropping the F bomb and cussing on public broadcast shows. Poor argument here.

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  6. Those words are omitted for the radio edits because the public domain has to be kept at a certain level appropriate level. It has nothing to do with Christianity or not. This was a blatant removal of a Christian term to make all people happy. Well it didn't make me happy and if they are trying to make everyone happy then choose a different song. We removed prayer from schools over 50 years ago and now we have to have metal detectors to protect our children. I'm so sorry if Jesus offends you and no I don't see or understand how you can't or won't believe but I am not forcing you to remove things out of your life that defines you. This country was based on One Nation under God. The more that God is removed the worse that the world gets. I just implore people to realize that there is something to this. I'm not looking for rainbows and ponies and the Christian life is not perfect nor are the followers of Christianity, but what we are is forgiven and we try to hold ourselves to the standards that were set before us. Feed the poor, defend the weak, pray for the hurting. Just Love! There is so much hate and animosity in this world, just try to love someone today. Happy Thanksgiving to all and Merry CHRISTmas!

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    1. I agree with you. We've tried removing God from our country and we are much worse off than when we included God. Well said, Kendra!

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  7. Way to go Mike!!!! I agree with you a 100%. Political correctness is completely out of control. And correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the bible say make a joyful noise unto the Lord. I don't think God would be pleased with the ommission and I do think he would care.

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  8. Actually, the word "Lord" was added to the song by churches. If you look up the original sheet music, the word Lord is not there. The official sheet music is "By and By, By and By."

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    1. This was already covered in the blog and others and either way they omitted things. The public domain version of the song was altered as well to remove religious references also if that was really the version they were using they wouldn't have had to replace the work Lord with Oh. If they were using the original version from 1908 why were they saying Oh?

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    2. Sorry, but you're wrong Mike. The chorus of the original is:

      Will the circle be unbroken
      By and by, by and by?
      Is a better home awaiting
      In the sky, in the sky?

      A scan of a 1908 hymnal is available here:
      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/WillTheCircleBeUnbroken1907Hymn.png

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    3. AL, You didn't even read the whole blog did you? If you did you would know there is a link with the lyrics along with the video that clearly shows they omitted a lot of the song.

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    4. As a musicologist I can tell you that in order for the song to be given away for free, which it was, it has to be public domain, meaning it has to follow the ORIGINAL sheet music exactly.

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  9. This show sings songs about God all the time and the contestants talk openly about singing in church, being christian, etc. Only two weeks ago a contestant sang "Hallelujah." The bottom line is, the word Lord was not omitted. Anyone up in arms over this is missing the point.

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    1. This was already covered in the blog and others and either way they omitted things. The public domain version of the song was altered as well to remove religious references also if that was really the version they were using they wouldn't have had to replace the word Lord with Oh. If they were using the original version from 1908 why were they saying Oh?

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    2. Then how do you account for the show using the word Lord in Hallelujah and in How Great Thou Art? Both songs have been covered on the show. Both contain religious references that were not omitted.

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  10. They DID use the "Pointed to the dying Savior, Now they dwell with Him above." line from the original lyrics. What is the problem again?

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    1. Right here is how misinformation gets spread on the internet! I just posted a link to the lyrics as well as the performance which clearly contradict what you just posted. The song was altered.

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  11. I think we might consider that there are multiple versions of this song. When I searched on it - using multiple sources - I found it the way it was sung, and the way some of you remember it. I found a hymnal from 1908 that showed it without the word Lord in it. But, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, had the word Lord in it.

    My guess, just as the Catholics have 3 books that the Lutherans do not, is that it's different church to church.

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    1. Guessing is not necessary. Read the blog this is covered.

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    2. I did read the blog. It is not covered from my perspective. If you do multiple searches, there are multiple versions. How can you know that they had the public domain version you had? They could have chosen many different ones. Without malice or intent. You cannot know that they did this deliberately unless you were there to see it. To me, that's only fair.

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  12. lol if i were on this show, as an atheist, I would not perform this song with the word in it. Im not anti christian or anti religion, i just dont believe. Everyone can believe whatever they want.
    I think taking the word out is not choosing a side, its choosing no sides. if they forced someone to omit it on their solo songs then its a different story, but all the contestents were singing it.

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  13. They have taken bibles out of the schools, yet prisoners are allowed bibles in jail. Perhaps if bibles were allowed in our schools, there wouldn't be as many prisoners in our jails!

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  14. This deletion is unforgivable. They can remove me from their number of avid fans.

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  15. This deletion is unforgivable. They can remove me from their number of avid fans.

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