I don't know how it is in your town, but where I live almost everywhere that I go in public has some sort of music playing in the background. I hear Muzak at the grocery store. My bank and dry cleaner play a local AC station. Our favorite Japanese restaurant plays traditional Japanese music. Our favorite Chinese restaurant plays country music. My hair salon is filled with rock and roll. At the mall it's a virtual smorgasbord because there is the "main mall music" and then there are the tunes found in individual stores.

I'm sure you get the picture - there is music everywhere and I know that when I go out to run my errands I'm going to hear several different styles. Most of the time my brain classifies it as "background noise" and it doesn't affect my shopping, banking or hair experience one way or another. Of course, if I hear a tune that I really hate I get to make a face and a droll comment and keep right on doing what I'm doing. If I hear a song that I really like I get to sing along, tap my foot or put some new pep in my step and again, keep right on doing what I'm doing. Every time I leave my house I know beforehand that I'm going to hear music while I'm out and I'll like some of it and some of it I won't, but I accept that because in the real world no one gets to have everything their way. Right?

Who Gets to Choose What Music Plays in the Background?

The question that comes to mind is this: who picks the type of music that is played at these establishments? Is it the management? The owners? The most loyal customer?

And what happens if I go into a business or store and I don't like the music that they're playing in the background? Do I, as a paying customer, have the right to dictate what type of music is played? Not really! My choices seem pretty simple to me. I can stay and continue doing my thing while ignoring the music, I can leave and do business somewhere else or I can come back another time and try again. Those options pretty much cover my "freedom to choose," don't they?

Music Infringing on Your Religious Rights?

Let me give you a scenario --- My family goes to an all you can eat pizza buffet for dinner. We pay up front, get our plates, cups, etc. and hit the buffet. Halfway through the meal someone changes the radio station to a heavy metal station and (in this fantasy scenario) I just can't stand that type of music. Do I have the right to get up and walk out? Sure I do! But do I have the right to call the manager over and demand that he refund our money since we're leaving and could have eaten a lot more had they not started playing music that offended my delicate sensibilities? Well, I could, but I seriously doubt that it would work. But if it was a Christian radio station that got tuned in … well that could be a different ball game entirely. I could make a big stink about how I didn't go to eat at a "religious establishment" and since they were playing Christian music, that automatically made it a "religious" thing and then the fireworks would start to fly! Infringing on my religious rights or my rights to not be religious is a guaranteed big deal. By taking something as simple and petty as background music and turning it into an affront to my religious rights, it seems like I could right my own ticket.

When Jesus Becomes a Workout Buzz Kill

And that is just what happened in a fitness center in Wisconsin. The center added some Christian music to the rotation of what was being played and a customer didn’t like it. She immediately decided that a few Christian tunes made it an exclusive religious club and canceled her membership. That was her choice and her right, most certainly. However, she also demanded that the club refund the remaining six months of her paid membership since she wouldn’t be coming back. When the club refused to do it, she took it up a level to the local Chamber of Commerce and got the big religious rights ball rolling. The club, in an apparent effort to keep this from becoming another Pledge of Allegiance fiasco, capitulated and stopped playing that pesky Christian music until her membership expires in June. They also refunded the two months of fees that she paid for the time missed in the gym while she fought this valiant battle. What a crock! I’m sorry folks, but this is another case of Christians being vilified and I for one am sick of it. What gives this woman the right to dictate what type of music the fitness center plays? And why is it that Christian’s feel like we have to give in to every single jerk out there that is “offended” by our faith? Look back at the 10 Commandments, the Pledge of Alliance, having God mentioned on our money, Easter and, of course, Christmas and the whole “religious holiday” connotations and you’ll see what I mean. America has become a “don’t ask, don’t tell” state where Christianity is fine, unless you allow your faith to become a public thing and then you’ll probably be infringing on someone’s rights and could get sued! So much for a land of religious freedoms. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that this was the type of America that our forefathers had in mind.