I attended my son's school "Winter Celebration" concert yesterday. I read the program with great interest, and a little trepidation. You know, when you take a part of the afternoon off to watch your child perform, show up at the announced time, only to find your child is last or next to last. It is, perhaps Murphy's Law of school concerts. Well, as Murphy would have it, my son's group was, in-fact, second to last. Oh well, watching the children perform is always entertaining, amusing and usually heartwarming so I decided to just stick around for the whole show.
Here, in order, were the performances as listed in the program:
We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday
Hanukkah festival
Penguin Polka
Snow is falling Today-Spanish/English
Polar Puppy
The Little Snowflake
Bubble Wrap
Winter Waltz
Chicken Soup
Blitzen Boogie
Celebrate Kwanzaa
Keep the Candles Glowing
Everlasting Fruitcake (no, this was not about Herb Bergson)
Masters in This Hall
Believe (theme from Polar Express)
Notice anything about this program? It is scheduled the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas and Christmas break, in a time frame traditionally set aside for Christmas programs and Christmas is notably absent from the program. Actually, they went one step further and edited certain songs to take the references to Christmas out of them. OK, no big deal right? I have no right to be indignant or question why my son's school is actively taking Christmas out of the traditionally Christmas season...or do I?
"So what?" you ask. Well, they also went out of their way to recognize Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Why is it that now only Christ is persona-non-grata? I'm not sitting here pulling my hair out with anger or disgust, just a little frustrated for the vast majority of the students performing in this concert, that the Holiday they will recognize at home, has essentially been banned from their school concert. Drive around Duluth right now and you tell me how many Hanukkah Menorahs, or Kwanzaa candelabras you see in windows vs. how many Christmas trees and Christmas related decorations.
It seems, once again, our sensitivities to the minority are overwhelming our common sense and the rights of the majority. When did Christmas become offensive? When did Christians become deserving of revile by academia? This is a millenia old tradition, celebrated by people in all cultures. In Duluth, instead of what would Jesus do, it's what would Wellstone do?
Well, I'd tell you what Wellstone would do but I'm not going to disparage a dead man. However, I'll tell you what his loyal followers are doing, they're pandering to the left fringe PC crowd and making Christmas a bad word. They are attempting to thwart the free exercise of religion. They are creating their own context within which society is actually beginning to make decisions. This context of "Separation of Church and State" is nothing more than leftist context drummed out of vague references made in a letter written hundreds of years ago. This context and language does not appear in our Constitution, it does not appear anywhere in law and is a fallacy propagated very successfully by the anti-Christian left. Now they're teaching and enforcing it in our schools. The phrase "separation of Church and State" is so routinely used across all lines in this Country, people have actually come to believe there is something in our Constitution that requires it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our forefathers are rolling in their graves everytime some leftist media "correspondent" plays loose with history and facts and uses that statement to manufacture the context of why we cannot allow any reference to Christianity in our schools or anywhere else for that matter.
Finally, if the Church must be separated from the State, and we all know it doesn't, why then is the reference to a Jewish celebration still PC? I have no problem with the celebration giving equal billing to competing traditions but to eliminate Christmas from current "Holiday" celebrations, is an omission of a particularly aggregious sort. The Constitution guarantees the right to the free exercise of religion and denies the Government the right to establish an official State religion. The leftists are already thwarting our right to the free exercise of religion. Why? Because it fits their overall political strategy. Liberals tend to be liberal with not only our money, but their own approach to life in general, typically lacking moral courage and core convictions. Since Christians are typically conservative, and athiests, agnostics and acedemia tend to be liberal, if they simply crush out any reference to God, Christ, Christmas and the Bible, they feel they can turn the tide in the US from that of embracing conservative principles to one of liberal power-brokering. The problem with their theory it is transparent, contrary to the Constitution and terribly cynical. Even my kids are catching on. On the trip home from school I asked my son why he thought there was no reference to Christmas in the school's program. I kid you not, without prompting or hesitation, my ten year old replied, "it is a conspiracy by a bunch of dimwitted liberals." I couldn't have said it better and my first thought was "there is a God!"
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
You are so right about this, school's have done this for a number of years now. It can also now be seen so many other places. It angers me to no end.
www.duluthpolitics.blogspot.com
wow...interesting theory you have there...
as to the school presentation...i don't know...perhaps there is some sort of paranoia about overly catering to any one specific group or holiday...or perhaps it might have been intended to shed light on other celebrations that people observe all over the world.
By the tone of your post, I can only presume that you feel that everyone should celebrate christmas, regardless of their own personal ehtnicity or religious background.
just one question...where are all of these 'menorahs' and kwanzaa candelabras you speak of? i mean, i'm not one to go round neighborhoods peeking into people's windows to check if they're good christians with their picture perfect christmassy getup...
incedentally, hannukah has absolutely nothing to do with christmas...what would you have the jewish folk do? celebrate christmas anyway? Last i checked, hannukah wasn't being commercially forced down anyone's throats at every commercial break and catalog ad.
In case you haven't noticed, christmas is (practically)everywhere...and not just in a rhetorical sense either. It's in every single street, store and boulevard. It's spilling out of every television commercial and sunday paper insert...there's even a radio station that has played nothing but christmas music since thanksgiving. to insenuate that there are 'groups' that wish it to be some sort of crime to even celebrate christmas is as asinine an idea as I've ever heard.
here's a theory for you sir...this whole 'war on christmas' is an idiotic scheme drummed up by the good reverends Falwell and Robertson and his high holiness Bill O'Reilly and the rest of his ilk in a lame (but passable) attempt to further infuriate and distract their feeble minded masses from what's important these days...i'm quite sure that Democrats and liberals celebrate christmas in the exact same way you do...quit trying to lay blame on pepole who don't think they way you do, that's childish...
It's all senseless hollow propaganda, man...wake up! The only reason why there IS a war on christmas is because you let people like O'Reilly convince you there is a war on christmas.
what's funnier is, there are thousands of self righteous egomaniacal lemmings out there who fell for it...hook...line...and sinker.
sucker.
What you neglect to recognize in your response is that I accept equal billing for all traditions. What I find repugnant and morally reprehensible is anyone who acquiesces to the willful indoctrination of children. I am not a church-goer, I am not one who would consider myself a practicing Christian. I never watch Bill O’Reilly, nor do I have any idea what Falwell or others are doing. I think for myself as do my children.
I fulfill my responsibility to my children to keep them extraordinarily informed and exposed to information from all sources. They read the Tribune daily. They listen to CNN news, watch Fox, listen to Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Jerry Springer, etc. They play on their Gameboys and watch cartoons. They make their own judgments as do I.
There may not be a war on Christmas as you characterize it, but there is a war on tradition and most certainly a war from the left on the conservative Christians. What you say is we should dispense with tradition. I refuse to. I grew up with it, explore my beliefs daily and allow my children to do the same. Unfortunately, my children have been denied the opportunity to celebrate their chosen holiday, whether it is consistent with their religious beliefs or not. They have been subjected to idealistic fascism.
The holiday and celebration of Christmas has become more about commercialization, presents, tree and decorations. But the underlying tradition and celebration of the birth of Christ, whether you see him as the son of God or simply a pacifist philosopher, still exists. What you and yours have been OK with is the demonizing of those who celebrate it. You paint those who celebrate Christmas as religious zealots. The zealots are those who abuse their position and foist their anti-Christian and anti-Christmas dogma on our children. That is indefensible in America.
If you acquiesce to and defend these people, you are defending religious oppression. The Constitution recognizes and defends our right to freely practice our religion. If we follow your argument, some are more free than others. Your argument asserts that the majority, by virtue of their majority should remain silent or they are the oppressors. The problem with that argument is it defies common sense and the entire premise of Democracy, or in other words, is an argument in favor of fascism. In essence, no matter what the majority believes, you must follow this instead of that, because we said so, we know better than you, we are entitled to make your decisions for you. I say, Hogwash!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
PS. Thanks for your comments but the name calling really diminishes your message.
I apologise for the ire and misdirected hostility in my last response to your article...the whole 'war on christmas' both sickens and angers me, simply because it's been blown way out of proportion by a group of self-serving talking heads in the media looking to either make a fast buck by selling books or promote hate within our country. It seems that assumptions, misconceptions and misunderstandings come from both sides, wouldn't you agree?
As to the rest of my arguement...you keep using the term "you and yours" when you are referring to the percieved oppression of religious freedoms. I don't believe that anyone should be oppressed for their beliefs (or lack thereof), as is the case with most people in this country...'leftists' and democrats included.
to suggest that the entirety of the democratic party is bent on somehow destroying the traditions of christmas as we know it is not only laughable but asinine.
what does draw attention is the small percentage of radical left leaners that think so highly of themselves that they wish to ruin the fun for the rest of us by trying to get everything to conform to their beliefs. I can tell you that among the people I know who consider themselves to be either athiests or agnostics (and there are quite a few), that even these radicals are regarded as fringe. It's not the whole group but a few who walk under the banner that are causing the problems. On the whole, most athiests don't give a damn about the whole ordeal...it's just another day to them.
I believe your anger really should be directed at those fringe radicals instead of the entire group...I'm sure there are millions of Democrat households that will be opening Christmas presents tomorrow morning, including mine. Likewise to suggest that the Democrats and the left are somehow godless and devoid of ehics and morals is also...asinine and bordering on what some might call hate speech.
There's way too much hate in the world, friend...why perpetuate more of it by attacking a whole group (nowadays about half the country, by the numbers shown by the last presidential election)...
Fact is...this season is a huge celebration of different traditions of many different cultures...and as this country grows in size, those different cultures are going to keep having some sort of influence on every day society...what do you suggest then? It's wrong of anyone to force their beliefs on others who for whatever reason, don't share in those beliefs.
So long as You and Yours hold true to what YOU believe...why worry about what someone else believes? It's the responsibility of parents to teach their children that. It's the responsiblity to teach children the differences between cultures but to also emphasize our own personal beliefs as being those we choose to follow.
We've come to rely on schools tooheavily when it coimes to educating our children. When you have such a diverse group of kids (as is the case these days) in one place, you have to go pretty far to cover all your traditional bases, so to speak.
Merry Christmas, friend...to you and yours...remember the reason for the season...everything else will work itself out.
ain't no time to hate...
In Dog Neato,
Thanks for the comments. Bottom line to all of this gnashing of teeth over Christmas is, if we allow one group, no matter who they are, to limit the celebration of one religion or holiday simply because it conflicts with their views, we have turned down the slippery slope to idealogical fascism. This must not happen to any group and must not be tolerated by any group.
Merry Christmas!
Post a Comment