We sang the tune "Standing on the the Side of Love" in the service today, but we were asked to sing it changing the words to "Answering the Call of Love". I like both phrasings, and it was explained that the songwriter approved the change. We were even invited to cross out the original words in the hymnal and write in the new ones if we wanted. I'm bothered by the idea that saying or singing "standing on the side of love" is seen as ableist. I told my husband, who doesn't attend, and he said, "what about deaf/hard of hearing people?" as a sarcastic comment about the alternate way of singing it. I think what bothers me is that we can't see the word stand as having a meaning other than to support oneself on the feet in an upright position, as Merriam-Webster says. I would so much rather we address ableism in a different way. It seems counter productive to raising awareness of ableis. There are so many situations in which language needs to be thoughtfully changed, but in my opinion this is not one of them. Anyone else care to share your opinion?
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