Wait.. red.. and yellow…??? (Those darn racist Bible songs)

If you’ve ever spent even a nanosecond in Sunday school you can probably still recite the lyrics to many of the songs you learned as a child. You’ve heard them all so many times they’re forever etched into your permanent memory.

Let’s test this theory, shall we? Let’s have a sing-along!

The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me…

Jesus loves me this I know…

For many of us these songs represent the earliest seeds of faith that were sown into our lives. It was through these songs that we learned that Jesus loves us, that the Bible was the Word of God and that Father Abraham had many sons. Many of the foundational principles of our faith were passed down to us by our beloved Sunday school teachers in the form of songs.

As we grow older and start having children of our own, we often times find ourselves sharing these same songs with them. They bring back many fond memories of our own childhood and we’re happy to introduce our children to these treasured favorites.

But what do you do when you suddenly realize that one of the all time classics is inherently racist?

Each and every night my wife and I tuck our toddler son into bed. After giving us hugs and kisses, our little guy crawls into bed thanks Jesus for giving him another great day. After we finish praying we always close with a song of his choice. We cover all the classics; everything from “Old McDonald” to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to the “ABCs.” From time to time we’ll mix in a children’s song that we remember from our Sunday school days as well.

One night in particular our son asked to hear a new song, one that we hadn’t sung before. After scratching our heads for a minute, trying to come up with a new tune, it dawned on us that we hadn’t taught him “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” A classic! How could we have made such an egregious error?

So we started…

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.

He seemed to like the sound of that. It was going pretty well so far, so we continued.

Red and yellow… black… and… white…???? *record scratches*

Wait a minute. Something didn’t feel right here.

First of all, it didn’t seem right to teach him a song that encourages him to categorize people according to the color of their skin. Even though we understand that the song’s intent is to explain that Jesus loves children of every race (well, almost every race, more on that later) it also teaches him – starting from a very young age – to see people in terms of their racial differences. We just didn’t feel right introducing that concept to a child who still instinctively plays with kids of all makes and models without the slightest bit of hesitation. He’s an equal opportunity playmate. We like that about him, and we’re not looking to mess that up for him anytime soon.

Secondly, while I will admit that the term “black” is still subject to debate in reference to African Americans (and white is its apparent opposite?) what about the other terms? Red? Yellow? I can only assume these colors are used in the song to refer to Native Americans and Asians. But the last time I checked it is pretty offensive to both Asians and Native Americans to be referred to as “yellow” and “red.”

And finally… what about the Latino kids? God apparently loves all the Native American, European, African and Asian kids, but not them? Why are our brown skinned friends from south of the border excluded from God’s love buffet?

After a brief summit between my wife and I to discuss the social and moral implications of teaching a song loaded with racial undertones to our four-year-old, my wife saved the situation with a solution. We could always just change the lyrics!

So we continued….

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.
Every color, shape and size, they are precious in his eyes.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Maybe we’ve bowed just a little at the altar of political correctness. And maybe our child will grow up singing a bastardized version of a Sunday school classic. And yes, we’re aware that the lyrics still highlight the fact that people are different colors (at least in our version they’re not segregated, and it’s not using derogatory terms to describe them!). But we’ll sleep better at night knowing we’ve taken steps to help prevent our son from developing into a little racist.

Even if that means sheltering him from those racist Bible songs. 😆

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69 thoughts on “Wait.. red.. and yellow…??? (Those darn racist Bible songs)

  1. oh wow. I never really noticed that before…except for being the only brown kid in a catholic sunday school 🙂

    1. If the author of this article had actually HEARD the song, he’d have known it goes “red, brown, yellow, black & white”

      1. That’s one version. There are several, but the most common one says Red & Yellow Black & White. Either way, I believe the author was being a bit tongue-in-cheek about the whole thing

      2. Not according to the original text by C. Herbert Woolston. Apparently someone else reacted negatively and changed the lyrics as well.

        1. Seriously, I can’t believe adults are making mountains out of mole hills. In your quest to keep your children from being racist you are in fact making your children to grow up in a world where they become so stressed over how to speak, sing, read because they may offend someone. There is nothing wrong with this song unless you feel it left out a specific group or culture. It is a harmless bible song and somehow you have made it into something it is not and have totally missed the meaning that was meant to be understood. Jesus loves all people, children, creatures regardless of skin color. I feel sorry for your kids growing up around adults who find bad in everything meant to be good.

          1. Just remember that scripture demands that we be careful in our speech, that we remove stumbling blocks (like racist language) from our midst, that when we gain understanding that we give up childish things (speaking in ways that continue to do harm to others). Keeping our eyes open for ways we can better ourselves and the ways we love one another, seems pretty solid gospel teaching to me. Grateful for Shane’s rewriting of this, we’ll be singing it together after the baptism of our son on Sunday.

          2. My sentiments exactly, Deb. I’m reading a book about racial reconciliation that our school employees will be discussing. I thought of this song and decided to look up the background of it. I was born in 1957 and thought, wow, this song was radical for its time. I wondered what the motivation was behind writing it. I think it is quite inclusive and don’t want to ruin the song by splitting hairs about it and being pc.

          3. I think the broader problem of this song is where it refers to yellow and red children, which are considered racist and offensive terms for Native Americans and Asians. As a white person, I don’t have the right to say that it doesn’t matter, because I don’t know what if feels like to hear these things on a daily basis. For anyone reading this who is white, I would ask how you would feel if instead of white the song said cracker or white trash. If we’re not comfortable singing that to our kids, then we should refrain from using terms that are derogatory towards other races.

  2. I kinda think it’s OK for kids to speak in those kind of general terms. It’s kind of innocent and honest. But it gets weird with grown-ups, and I suppose that does make it weird for grown-ups to teach a song like this to kids.

    Thanks for ruining that piece of my childhood with your hyper-sensitive racial views, Shane. Next you’re gonna tell me that Jesus didn’t really look the way I was taught he did (you know, like Ted Nugent).

    1. I had the exact same thought when singing to my daughters. Actually, I remember when my grandmother would sing this to me and I clearly remember it was the first time I thought about divisions between people in terms of race. As a matter of fact, this was the first time I had heard of people having “red” and “yellow” skin. I had no idea what groups that was referring to. I agree. Although the intent is to communicate that Jesus loves all children, for me, it clearly says we each have a category or division that we should fit in based on the color of our skin. I’m not comfortable singing this to my kids.

      1. I sang that song in Sunday schoool… happy memories, why does everything have to be so ridiculously politically correct? I mean every race/child was included in that song… have a beautiful Sunday everyone ♥️♥️♥️

    2. Hey Shane, so what’s your grown childs favorite story book now? The 1619 Priject? Considering this post was 13 years ago, so did your child grow up to be a Liberal or Conservative? Just wondering how well the indoctrination worked? A Trump voter or Biden? I somehow have a feeling your child grew up to resent you, his upbringing, and wishes you would have left his little innocent mind alone at that stage of development, instead of getting inside it and tinkering away with your twisty mind control tools of indoctrination. I know I would resent you if you were my parent. Once I were old enough to realize what the hell you did, I’d probably want you to pay severely for the brainwashing you accomplished on me and if I could, I would sue you for child abuse, divorce my parents and join the first Antifa group or BLM group that came my way. Oh yeah, I’d have probably gone right along with your indoctrination and ended up as one of those who joined Antifa, and BLM, and became a liberal fascist racist who torches black peoples business in 2020, or done me a few smash & grab getting my share of reparations that “the white man” deprived me of. Or maybe I’d have ended up murdering people because my parents sucked every cell of innocence from my mind and I’m now sitting in a juvenile detention center or well on my way to an adult facility. I’d have grown up resenting my petty parents for being such suckwads that they couldn’t help themselves but be offended by the smallest of things. And instead of teaching my child what the Bible says “Be ye not easily offended” or “When ye judge, judge correctly” What it appears you parents have done to your child is cause him to end up rejecting God. I’ll bet money on it that your child becomes an atheist and well, which to you that’s a hell of a lot better than singing an innocent Bible song. You should be so proud of yourselves. In fact, I bet you think you’re the humble types, so humble you’re proud of it. I bet your adult child now thinks that all whites are inherently racist. If that’s the case you should know that there are no white people in Heaven so y’all should feel right at home, you dont think God allows “inherently racist” people into Heaven do you? So I hope your adult child knows that all whites go to the other place.
      Little do you know that in your effort to make your child not be racist, your child (if he grew up to be just like his parents) is either already or well on it’s way to becoming a bonafide fascist racist. In fact, I bet you’ve taught your child all about equity and not equality. Like I said I bet the 1619 Project is your grown childs new favorite story time book now isn’t it? Dont lie. We have lots of other children who were also indoctrinated to draw from, and we know how 90% of those children turned out to be. The real racists. Oh and one more thing, when you find the time, maybe you could delve into your family tree with your grown child and show it how your ancestors were the ones who enslaved the blacks, or were a Democrat Confederate soldier or maybe participated in a few lynchings from 1866 to 1968. So dont forget to teach your child about your Democrat ancestors and the Democrat founding of the Klan. You dont want to leave that part out. Oh and when your child is toppling Confederate statues dont for to mention that theres a good chance that those statues represent the Democrat racist past and it’s very possible that the statue represents someone who just might be related, considering that most confederates are in the Democrat family trees. There’s just so many other things you need your child to know, when you find the time.

  3. I’m sure there are plenty of objectionable things that show up in the dark closets and dusty corners of the church’s past. But I’m more worried about the actual racism displayed by current adults in the church. (I saw signs of that when I was in Texas, for awhile attending a Southern Baptist church that wouldn’t minister to their neighborhood because the local residents were African Americans and Latinos, but I have also seen signs of that in various “Christian” settings in New York.) And by the rampant heresies which have taken control of the evangelical church (stuff like the biblical prosperity heresy). And by superficial me-first “worship” songs which have completely drowned out the theologically solid hymns and worship songs of the pre-1995 era. I don’t know too many churches that actually teach kids that old song; my nephew (age 6) and niece (age 4 1/2) haven’t learned it yet.

    Oh, and as a kid, I found that song the first time that “other” kids were included in the love of Jesus. In my whitebread middle-class evangelical church, I eventually would see other signs of the inclusiveness of the gospel, but at age 3 & 4, that was the first clue I had.

    And “red” doesn’t refer to Native Americans. It refers to me when I spend an hour in the summer sun, with or without sunscreen. . . .

  4. Charles: I am honored to have you stop by! I hope life is treating you well. Feels like I haven’t seen you in years! We’re seriously talking about going to the OTR show in NYC in October. I wish it were the same weekend as homecoming so we could kill two birds with one stone, but it’s not. Anyway, might you be going?

    Oh, and as a kid, I found that song the first time that “other” kids were included in the love of Jesus.

    That’s a really interesting point. I grew up in a rural evangelical church which really had no people of color that I can recall. I certainly can see how that would be an eye-opening realization for someone in that setting!

    Also, on the topic of racism and segregation in the church. Two excellent books that I’ve recently read that address the issue are:

    Reconciliation Blues by Edward Gilbreath

    Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith

    I’ve seen some of the tendencies toward segregation in the church first hand in Rochester. In the city you have a much more diverse population. It’s also where the crime, poverty, murder and other social ills are so prevalent. I’ve done some work in trying to get suburban (read: “white”) churches to care for and invest in the city, but it’s very difficult. It seems like all church and church-planting efforts target high growth suburban areas, which are nearly all “whiter” and richer. Sometimes I wonder if we’re just widening the divide rather than bridging it.

    Before I go too much further, I hope people do realize that I’m being somewhat tongue-in-cheek in my above post. I don’t necessarily feel that the song is racist, and maybe I shouldn’t throw that term around so haphazardly.

    But I do think it is interesting to consider how much different the culture is now than it was when most of us first heard that song as children. We just think about race so much differently than we ever did back then. And as a result a song like this can have dual-implications – such as alluded to by Josh in his comment above.

    And Jesus loves the brown kids too darnit!

  5. i think larry poston explained it when he said God hates catholics…and 99% of latinos are catholic. so that must be why.

    *sarcasm for those who may not have known*

    i like on the simpsons how they refer to themselves as yellow, not white…b/c they are actually yellow. i mean, sure, maybe miles davis was actually black, and that kid in the movie powder was actually white, but i’m not white. i’m close to it, being of northern european stock, but not quite. race is stupid. let’s start classifying people based on height, cause short people are evil. stupid midgets.

  6. It is funny that you mention this as my husband and I have been trying to explain some recent things our son had heard another child say about our neighbors.

    I love how innoncent and loving kids are when they don’t see the “color” of a person on the outside they only see the love on the inside.

    I guess I have always felt that I did not need to point out the difference in a persons skin color to a child or an adult.

  7. Good point Shane, but what did you guys do with the second verse? Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world, English, Irish, Dutch and Jew, Russian and Italian too, Jesus loves the little children of the world. And you can always find something “negative” in almost every song, depending on how you look at it, but the important thing is, you are both there, to “teach” Josiah to love as Jesus loves!

  8. Mom, you are kidding right. That IS NOT the real second verse?!? But I’m assuming that since you posted it it is real because I can’t see you making that up. Amazing! I didn’t know or remember that there was a second verse. Would make the bedtime process longer so lets just not tell Josiah about it and avoid the whole thing all together.

  9. Haha, when I was in Uganda on a mission trip, my buddy Ben and one of our interpreters Vincent (a Ugandan) would sing “…all the children of the world/ White and white and white and white/ they are precious in his sight”

    Hahahaha, it was soo funny to hear a Ugandan unashamedly singing those words. But then again, he called us all crackers lol.

  10. Mom2Ryan: I can’t exactly confirm that those are actually the lyrics of the second verse. In fact I haven’t found them anywhere. I’ve found many variations of the song online. With some the “Jesus Loves the Little Children” part is just the chorus and the verses are completely different. Another variation is that part over and over, but substituting “loves” for “came for”, “died for” and “rose for” each time around.

    I’m not sure where you learned that verse. Maybe Ryan’s Ugandan friend? 😆

    lord eddard stark: Don’t mess with short dudes man. Don’t make Dustin and I come out there with some hard, pipe-hittin’ shorties to go to work on you with a pair of pliars and a blowtorch.

    Katie: Glad to have you stop by! Oh, and who knew raising kids was so complicated?!? I’m probably pretty liberal with what music I let my kid have exposure to. Nothing raunchy mind you, but he’s no stranger to bands like the White Stripes, etc. But yet I feel the need to edit the Bible songs he hears? Apparently my middle name is Arbitrary.

  11. I think to use the word “children” would be offensive to teenagers and adults.

    Jesus loves all the many people.
    All the many people of the world.
    Every color, shape and size, they are precious in his eyes.
    Jesus loves all the many people.

    😉 kidding…thanks for pointing this out Shane.

  12. We had quite a stink at our church (in Australia) when my husband and I suggested to not sing this song in Sunday School anymore. I believe there are so many other songs to sing, leave the racist ones out. It isn’t political corectness, it’s actually moving into the 21st century where we don’t label people as this or that, but see them as who they are, and how God created us.
    Anyway, thanks for your post, it’s so encouraging to read that other people think about these things too.

  13. I actually grew up with a different version of the second verse than Mom2Ryan cites: “English, Irish, Russian, Jew, German, Jap, Italian too / Jesus loves the little children of the world”. Rather ironic: the composer of that verse apparently intended to convey Jesus’ universal love, but it hits contemporary ears as somewhat..well…tone-deaf. For the record, I’m actually of Japanese-American heritage–I don’t feel particularly oppressed by the use of the song, though I certainly prefer other versions. 🙂

  14. Actually…Shane, might I beg the favor of deleting my previous comment and this one? In many cases, I prefer not to post w/ my real-name profile–I’ll re-post under another. 🙂

  15. Children don’t need a song or poem to tell them about different colors of people, they figure it out for themselves in the school yard!! Get over it, and stop being so “politically correct”.

  16. I find it interesting that people don’t want to be singled out for their race or anything else when it comes to Jesus’ love, yet we have Black History month where we intentionally highlight the contributions of black people. We have cultural history day/week in our schools instead of Thanksgiving so each culture can emphasize their particular things that make them unique. And now our school curriculum wants to single out gays/lesbians for their contributions to society. So if I understand the argument, we can say blacks, whites, gays, and others accomplished certain things as blacks, whites, gays, etc., but we can’t say Jesus loves blacks, whites, gays, etc–we can only say Jesus loves people–so why can’t we just teach history or politics or art or science and just say people did these things? Nobody should identify themselves, or be identified by others, based on their color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, job, achievements, etc. We should all be identified equally as children of God, loved by God, no matter what.

  17. Shane, I wish I had come across your post yesterday. I had looked for alternate words and found a single-word modification that appeased me: “Red, *brown*, yellow, black, and white …” Even though as a child I’d understood the song was meant to be inclusive (“all the children of the world”), as a “white” child in a largely “brown” city, I had felt bad about the “brown” children not being explicitly called out for Jesus’ love.

    Today the children’s church school lesson was exactly this: “Let the children come to me….” I wanted to teach the song as part of the lesson but was uncomfortable about it. I sensed the song had been discarded but couldn’t put my finger on why. It didn’t seem racist, but I’m not a minority so I might not hear the racism. BUT I didn’t think about its stereotyping. Obviously I have a big blind spot. Thank you for these alternate words that rescue the song.

    (BTW, a couple of the children gently called me out on the colors. They pointed out that the Asian child in the class is not yellow, and the African-American child in another class is not black! It was part of today’s lesson *for me*. 🙂

    Other songs I learned in church school 40+ years ago have gone by the wayside and I don’t understand why. Maybe I am missing inherent stereotyping in them too? “Tell me the stories of Jesus….”? “Jesus loves me… “?

    BTW, for both “Jesus loves me” (and the revised “Jesus loves the little children”), we sing *we* instead of *they*. As an adult it felt weird at first, but I think it strengthens the likelihood children will put themselves personally into the song to feel Jesus’ love (and I feel like a child of God too!). When I was little, singing “they” about Jesus loving the children of the world, I didn’t feel like one of the “children of the world,” just like I didn’t feel like one of the “weak” compared to Jesus’ “strong.” Those were the *littler* little kids!

  18. It’s not intended to be racist. Red, Yellow, Black, and white were the colors in Joseph’s “coat of many colors”, which symbolized God’s promise to Abraham: that he would be the Father of All Nations!

  19. My Japanese wife and Pechanga Indian co-worker disagree with you and said none of those terms are racist because of context. Which is what’s missing completely from your article. Yes I know I’m way late to this party.

    They also said if white people aren’t offended at being called white why would an Asian be offended at being called yellow.

  20. Wow, you are too much. You can find things oi be offend by in every statement ever made. Relax and stop judging everything.
    We be so correct we can not identified people by their color, their age, their sex, their ANYTHING. So we are all the dame with no differences. how boring…

  21. What is racist about singing that Jesus loves every nationality and color no matter what. I am called “white” my best friend is called “black”…..So wait we just stop there with colors. You cant just half ass it folks. Engines are called red and kung pow chicken’s are called yellow. If you are going to colorize some people than you should colorize everyone. If you don’t want to then stop referring to Caucasians as “white” and African Americans as “black”. So with this context that you morons are talking about than if you refer to Caucasians as “white” then you are RACIST. There is nothing racist about this song or any other Christian song. Get over yourselves!!!

  22. I believe the song teaches diversity and acceptance of differences. Children are not ignorant. They figure out differences on their own. I can’t count the number of times I heard “fatty, fatty, 2 x 4”. If children aren’t taught to accept differences, they very well may treat them with disdain. That would include color, disabilities. etc.

  23. Interesting post. I was actually searching for MORE colours to call people when I came across it. I am trying to create a flag design with stars of colours representing each major continental origin that now mix in our great culture. Red for North American, White for European, Black for African and Yellow for Asian seemed (if tone deaf) familiar to most listeners. I thought Brown for South American, but was wondering what color suggested skin tones for the Indian subcontinent, including the Mid-East? They seem to be left out of the color box. By the way, in your effort to less racist by not pointing out particular colours, you leave color in, and add size and shape, so now in addition to being racist, you are a sizist too. Can’t win, some days! Actually, life is going to teach your kids bout differences. This song that doesn’t matter to God, so it is the antidote to racism, not its proliferation.

  24. As an Asian-Canadian, I just find it funny how I’m noticing it now. As an idiot 6 year old who hadn’t yet developed the racial lens, I thought red and yellow were just random colours from the colour wheel they were listing. Now I know I’m the yellow kid they were singing about. Cool cool.
    Because of the context, it’s not racist. It’s attempting to be inclusive. It’s just innocently ignorant of how derogatory the origin of those terms might be. Sorry for the political correctness we’re accused of having too much of these days, but I’d just rather the Asians not be called yellow? It just sounds weird lol. Not offensive just really outdated.

  25. Your children will be ok. I do not see here a subliminal message for a child to pick up in the song about hate, only that there is different races. Hate is derived from parents that choose to do bad habits in front their kids and they pattern it as they grow up. If more parents are seen reading the Bible and praying, then children will see and ask questions toward starting their own faith. We have to be mindful of a liar. Satan can put people before us to hack into this song, look for error in it. He’s all about destroying the family unit. He usually starts with the woman of the parental unit because Eve was considered the weaker. He could not approach Adam directly, his faith was too strong. You know the story but some may understand more of the reasoning behind it.

  26. I am white with relatives that are red, yellow and black. We always sang the song and differing versions of it with the emphasis on ‘Jesus loves’.
    I think this week in Sunday School I will ask the kids to write their own version to the same tune and see what they come up with as their version.

  27. In your quest to be politically correct and not teach racism, you are doing just that by changing the words to an innocent children’s bible song. This is why the world is in the shape it is in today because so many people have to find offense in anything and everything where it really isn’t. I remember singing this song in Sunday School with my friends of many colors and not one of us was the least bit upset because it labeled us by skin tones. Live and let live. Stop feeding the wrong wolf.

  28. Shane in your article you said ”Jesus loves children of every race (well, almost every race, more on that later)”. What were you referring to here?

    1. It was quite a while ago, but I think this part is what I was referencing:

      “And finally… what about the Latino kids? God apparently loves all the Native American, European, African and Asian kids, but not them? Why are our brown skinned friends from south of the border excluded from God’s love buffet?”

      1. But wait! What about aliens from outer space, I see no mention of aliens from outer space, what about Jupiter, Venus and Mars, and what about Uranus!!! Doesn’t God love aliens from Uranus? It doesnt make sense that God doesn’t love Uranus? What’s wrong with Uranus?
        Does God even think about Uranus? It doesn’t seem so, there’s no mention of Uranus anywhere in the lyrics. Now something is just wrong with that.
        Think about how Uranus feels? I bet if you ask Uranus how it feels about being left out I bet Uranus might have something to say about that!!
        I wonder what Uranus might say? I bet Uranus would say “It stinks!”
        I feel bad for Uranus. Anyone else feel bad for Uranus, I mean what did Uranus ever do to deserve being left out. It’s just wrong people it’s just wrong!

  29. Oh my … if y’all focused on God & not tear the songs apart that hv been around for over decades you just might see the light that God has on in each of us!!! Our world has become weak as a nation let’s pray that our hearts find God & stop all the worldly (Satan) bickering … come together One Nation Under God !! Love & Peace to all

  30. Our song goes –
    Every child in every land
    Jesus holds them in His hand
    Jesus loves the little children of the world.

  31. Wow…This is ridiculous..
    You know that the original songwriter had nothing the very best intentions and was trying to get the message across that Jesus loves ALL of the little children of the world- REGARDLESS of their skin color, shape or size!
    There’s enough racism in our world today..
    Seriously, with no judgment, I’m thinking you are you a liberal..must be..(eyeroll)

  32. This post is nearly 12 years old at this point and I am continually amused by how much traffic it still gets, and by how many people don’t realize how completely tongue-in-cheek it all was.

  33. The Bible says to the pure all things are pure. For you to think this way about such a lovely, sweet, well-meaning song, means that you are racist in your mind as well. May God’s light shine on you 🙏

    1. Yeah the world sees everything is racist or you’re Politically Incorrect but you know what God looks at the heart yes Jesus looks at the heart and the Holy Spirit knows the truth about what you’re really thinking and what your agenda really is spread the gospel tell the truth love your neighbor do all you can because one day Jesus coming back to this world very soon loving man spread that love spread the truth don’t be in fear about being Politically Incorrect cuz it is Politically Incorrect to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ look at Romans 8:1 and you’ll get the idea

  34. As a Black man, this is foolishness and you need to find some productive activity in your life. This post is stupid and inconsequential.

  35. But wait! What about aliens from outer space, I see no mention of aliens from outer space, what about Jupiter, Venus and Mars, and what about Uranus!!! Doesn’t God love aliens from Uranus? It doesnt make sense that God doesnt love Uranus? What’s wrong with Uranus?
    Does God even think about Uranus? It doesn’t seem so, there’s no mention of Uranus anywhere in the lyrics. Now something is just wrong with that.
    Think about how Uranus feels? I bet if you ask Uranus how it feels about being left out I bet Uranus might have something to say about that!!
    I wonder what Uranus might say? I bet Uranus would say “It stinks!”
    I feel bad for Uranus. Anyone else feel bad for Uranus, I mean what did Uranus ever do to deserve being left out. It’s just wrong people it’s just wrong!

  36. Did anyone notice the line that says, “we are precious in his sight”? I think it would us all a world of good to focus on that meaning.

  37. I remember it as “red and yellow, blue and green and all the colors in between”. That was from the early ’70s and replaced lines 2 and 3:

    Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.
    Red and yellow, blue and green and all the colors in between.
    Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.

  38. My research tells me that the song was changed slightly to “red and yellow, black and white” by Thoro Wilson, a hymn writer who wrote hundreds of Christian hymns. He was bi-racial. His father was black and his mother was white. Thoro was probably inspired to write his own version of the song, wanting to include all children. I wonder if he may have even suffered discrimination as a child.

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