Those words were penned by Francis Scott Key as a line in a poem he wrote in 1814. Later on the poem was set to music and then renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", eventually being formally accepted as the national anthem, easily recognizable almost anywhere in the world. Almost 200 years on the sincerity of the feelings expressed by that time-honored phrase must be called into question by the events of today. Or, perhaps its true spirit will only be applied to those of certain 'acceptable' faiths - the rest have now been left behind.
Time will reveal whether peoples of the so-called 'open' Western societies are indeed any different from those in other lands they continually castigate for being part of a 'closed' belief system - those which are often accused of stifling dissent and of fostering religious persecution
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