This year, the parent who is organizing the movie night - which is to take place sometime in mid-November - chose The Polar Express as the movie to be shown. Santa will show up to the event, hot chocolate will be served, and apparently, kids and parents are very excited for the event to happen.
Then along comes the principal. She wrote the parent organizer and told her she would have to "nix" the film and the appearance by Santa. In fact here is the verbatim email that the principal sent the parent:
...I heard that the movie night is becoming a “Christmas type” theme. When we first talked, you mentioned a “hot chocolate” type of wintery movie night. In keeping with the district’s board regulations, I would ask that the “Christmas” theme, including Santa Claus, be “nixed”. I’m sure you can find other ideas for a “winter” theme, without excluding our families that don’t celebrate Christmas.I have always been astounded by this whole "We can't do it if just one person is offended" philosophy. If that's the standard, I'm sure any movie that is picked is bound to offend someone. Let's just cancel Movie Night. I swear, the killjoys out there won't be happy until the enjoyment is sucked out of everything.
Good Day to You, Sir
12 comments:
Oh you sourpuss. Happy Holidays! (Don't you DARE say Merry Christmas to me!!)
Doesn't it seem that with each passing year, this issue gets more and more ridiculous?
T
Yes it is ridiculous but then again what we believe in doesnt mean others do. They should have two seperate deals going on at the sametime or better yet go to a private school.
If that's your tact, then let's just do away with the time off that students get from approximately a week before Christmas to just after the New Year. After all, Christmas is a Christian holiday, and the New Year is based on the Christian calendar. Same thing with "Spring" break. Actually, we should cease calling them "Winter Break" and "Spring Break" too, as that shows partiality to the atheists and Gaia worshippers out there. If you want to start having separate events for different beliefs, then you have signed the death warrant for our country.
I have a better idea - since our country was founded on Christian values, and the vast majority of our population is still Christian, if anyone wants to get their kids away from the influence of Christianity, perhaps THEY should be the ones to send their kids to private school.
I say we just go the way of France after the Revolution of 1789 - we could then celebrate the "Feast of the Supreme Being", convert all churches into "Temples of Reason", and execute by guillotine those who don't agree with us . . . oh, what a a wonderful world!
No, see, in this country, we tolerate all religions and we don't make anyone worship something else.
Hmmm, execute people who don't celebrate Christmas, or show a Christmas-themed movie that people of other faiths can choose to watch or not watch.
Hyperbolize much?
"Have a holly, jolly winter. It's the best time of the year . . .", wait that doesn't work exactly. I'll try this, "I'll be home for winter . . ." or "Feliz Invierno, I want to wish you a merry winter."
How sad that our civilization no longer recognizes that the season of death, winter, has become, in Christ,the season of life.
George
Separation of church and state, Mr. Chanman. (Now, if I can just find those Bible verses that talk about a fat man in a red suit who lives with short people and reindeer at the North Pole...)
We've had that same argument here about whether or not to put up a Christmas tree in our staff lounge. I point out that Christmas is both a secular and a religious holiday, and that the tree and Santa are part of the secular festivities. That's usually a fairly convincing argument, as the Bible mentions neither.
We definitely don't put any angel decorations on the tree, though.
And just like we can find any mention of a fat man in a red suit in the Bible, neither can we find any mention of "separation of church and state" in the Constitution - not that the Constitution applies to local schools in the first place (Congress shall make no law...).
No worries though. The movie night organizer caved, and they will now be showing Toy Story. Of course, there is still a problem: Buzz Lightyear is a birthday present, and a birthday party and its planning is depicted in a significant portion of the film. What does this say to all the families at my son's school who don't observe birthdays?
This how ridiculous it can all get.
I'm experiencing Buckhorn Road withdrawals.
George
Birthday party??? How insensitive to those of the Jehovah's Witness faith!
Darren, allow me to refresh your memory in regards to "separation of Church and State". I quote, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."
Congress, of course, refers to the federal congress, not the individual state congress. This, the first amendment insures that the people, whether at the state or the very local level, are the ones who decide what sort of celebration they should have in their community or their school. It is NOT the place of Congress, the Supreme Court or the ACLU, and other haters, to determine what we celebrate in our schools.
So, to the owner of this blog I say, if you want Christmas in your school, stand up; get friends to stand up with you, and fight this! It is your Constitutional right to have true Christmas celebrations in your school... make sure the school board knows that.
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