Johann Sebastian Bach: 3/21/1685

Johann Sebastian Bach was born MARCH 21, 1685. By age 10 his parents had died. At 18, Bach was a church organist, followed by positions in royal courts. Once Bach was imprisoned because a duke did not want him employed elsewhere. Widowed with 7 children, he remarried and had 13 more.

Considered the "master of masters," Johann Sebastian Bach's works include Passion According to St. Matthew, and Jesus, Meine Freude (Jesus, My Joy!). Johann Sebastian Bach stated: "The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging."

On February 22, 1990, President George H.W. Bush stated: "The Bible has had a critical impact upon the development of Western civilization. Western literature, art, and music are filled with images and ideas that can be traced to its pages."

Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote in McCollum v. Board of Education, 1948: "It would not seem practical to teach either practice or appreciation of the arts if we are to forbid exposure of youth to any religious influences Music without sacred music would be incomplete, even from a secular point of view."

American Minute with Bill Federer