This is just so stupid. Even “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which has a 30 second reading from the Gospel of Luke for the purposes of saying what Christmas is all about, which is what Christmas is all about, is too much religion for the secularists.
This is just about facts. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, but if you mention it this fact, then you violate the magical and imaginary separation of Church and State.
The trip of a public school to see the play has now been cancelled.
“We’re not waging a war,” LeeWood Thomas, a spokesman for the group, told KATV. “We’re basically calling a foul against the separation of church and state.”
Right, it is not a war on Christmas, it is a war on facts.
Christmas is a revered holiday for many. Fact.
Christmas, as a holiday, is celebrated by many because it is the birthday of Jesus. Fact.
Jesus is a person who was born circa 2000 years ago. Fact.
The segment of the Gospel of Luke is an account of that birth 2000 years ago. Fact.
Mention all these facts together and you are proselytizing and establishing religion? Absurd. But this is where we are now.
December 6, 2012 at 6:36 pm
someone should try to file a lawsuit against a school for reading greek mythology in a literature class and say I don't want a public school endorsing texts about "Gods" like Zeus and Hades. See where that goes.
December 6, 2012 at 7:17 pm
As a classicist, it has been my experience that schools no longer teach mythology for this very reason. Many years ago a mojor ancient Egyption art exhibit was coming to my city. I was asked to give a talk on Egyptian gods/mythology for an "in service" day for public school teachers in order to help them teach their students about the exhibit. Even the most casualy knowledge of Egyptology makes it evident that there is no understading Egyptian culture without understanding its religon. After my talk several teachers came up to thank me, but one by one they told me they would not be able to use my material because they could not discuss religion. That was 25 years ago – we've already raised an entire generation as fools in complete ignorance.
December 6, 2012 at 7:35 pm
The State does not have a right to control the public square, and it certainly does not have the right to control children's education, to bar children from a moral, intellectual and spiritual education. This is the worst kind of control, an attack on liberty – to prevent children getting an education to which they ate naturally entitled to.
December 6, 2012 at 8:27 pm
And, at the risk of repeating endlessly, the "separation of church and state" is not to be found anywhere in the founding documents.
December 6, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Focus, please — I don't want my daughter transported to someone else's church. I love the little world Charles Schultz created, and, yes, Jesus is Lord, but the play could have been offered IN SCHOOL, after school, or on weekends. This smells of yet another Fisher-Price play-church flexing its muscles.
– Mack in Texas
December 7, 2012 at 12:53 am
@Mack in Texas, you know, if you flex your muscles while you're being tied up, it's often easier to get out later.
Just sayin'.
December 7, 2012 at 1:28 am
”or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
December 7, 2012 at 8:48 pm
If we can't celebrate the birthday of a historical figure, who was a preacher and was eventually killed for it, doesn't that mean that we also can't celebrate/acknowledge MLK Jr's birthday, either?