Eight students from a Christian high school in Rapid City, South Dakota, withdrew from a performance of the All-State Chorus and Orchestra, saying the words in a piece commissioned for the chorus clashed with their Christian beliefs.

Titled "These Things Shall Be," the piece, adapted from a poem by 19th-century poet John Addington Symonds, promotes the belief that humanity will perfect itself and usher in a utopia on earth and that "all the heavens [will] praise the earth."

In contrast, the Bible teaches that it is Jesus Christ, not humanity, who will usher in a peaceful, millennial time on earth, and that before then humanity will have succeeded only in bringing civilization to the edge of extinction. Request our free booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom, to learn more about the utopia that does lie ahead for mankind.

Another reason given by the students for withdrawing from the performance was that they did not want to appear to endorse the social viewpoints of the poet, who was a pioneering advocate of "gay liberation" (source: The Rapid City Journal, Nov. 8, 2003).