RSSThe War on Christmas Continues … School Choir Forced to Withdraw from Christmas Event Because Carols Too Religious
Let us never forget what Christmas is about and never let other tell us how we are to celebrate it or censor it.
CHRISTMAS … What part of Christmas do people in England not understand that Christmas 
is all about “Christ” and the fact that it is a religious holiday. Not maybe it’s a religious holiday, it is a religious holiday. The second most Holy day of the year. Imagine being invited to sing Christmas carols and being told your carols are too religious. This occurred in England; however, I am sure there are many schools in the United States these days that would do the same.
Gospel of Luke, verses 8 through 14:
“’8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’
However, this is not the case in the never ending war on Christmas. Imagine being a part of a choir and being chosen to participate and sing Christmas carols as part of the Christmas Winter Festival. Then imagine being forced to withdraw as you are told that your Christmas carols are “too religious”.
A school choir was forced to withdraw from a Christmas event because organisers branded its carols ‘too religious’.
Around 60 children aged between seven and 11 had spent six weeks practising favourites including Once In Royal David’s City and Silent Night for the Corringham Winter Festival.
But they were let down at the last minute when their headteacher was informed their programme did not ‘dovetail’ with the festival’s theme.
What was the Christmas festivals theme, secular commercialism? Seriously, this school was asked to sing Christmas carols and then told that they were too religious. How dare they sing a religious carol to celebrate the birth of Christ. Heaven forbid they be allowed to sing, Joy to the World, Silent Night, Angles We Have Heard on High, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Gloria in Exelsis Deo, Away in a Manager, and most important of all … Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled”
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Too religious? Unbelievable. Sorry they did not have Jingle Bells or Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer in their itinerary.
‘It’s ridiculous that you can’t sing religious songs. It’s Christmas – when can you sing them?’
Another parent, who declined to be named, said: ‘The school was advised by the organisers that the carols they had chosen were not suitable because they were deemed to have a religious theme. The kids were really disappointed.
‘I can’t see how the Christmas carols they were going to sing would have been offensive to anyone.’
The Prayer Book Society, said ‘winter festivals’ were threatening traditional Christmas celebrations.
Politically correct Christmas carols censor ‘king’, ‘son’ and ‘virgin’
Posted December 12, 2008 by Scared Monkeys Child Welfare, Education, Holidays, WTF, You Tube - VIDEO | 18 comments |
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18 Responses to “The War on Christmas Continues … School Choir Forced to Withdraw from Christmas Event Because Carols Too Religious”
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Can anyone explain to me how a Christmas carol can avoid having religious connotations?
This is the good thing about being alive these days … in the news, without fail, appear items that you couldn’t think any novelist or fiction writer would be crazy enough to dream up.
Time to get Jay Sekalow involved. Lawyer in D.C. for things just as this…
When I was in my H.S. 30 years ago, our choir wsa being told the same things during our Christmas concert annual event…there was one woman who became famous for her naysaying about Christ…and not wanting Christmas Carols to be sung in the State of Mass. (I don’t remember her name, however her son, later became a believer)…(she was a proclaimed athiest) she tried to stop us from singing Christmas Carols and we got to sing anyways…
Who dreams up this stuff?
Christmas… JESUS is the reason for the SEASON and many of us, like the carols and songs. I wonder the person complaining even attends these types of concerts? Or just likes having their 15 min. of fame? Are they going after our concert halls all over the country next?
Pathetic state of affairs…
Removing God from the Pledge of Allegiance, from burial ceremonies for our military in the flag folding, prayer in schools/moments of silence…, what’s next, removing the needle monument in Washington D.C., because it gives glory to God carved & written on it and the lay out is in the shape of a cross?… it was purposely done by our forefathers… Government sprung up out of the churches, historically speaking. That is a fact.
Either we’ve become too complacent and apathetic to this nonsense or are changing into a Communistic society. That’s frightening in itself.
God Bless America!
Sing carols and Praise His name!
Merry Christmas!
[...] The perpetual war on Christmas and Christianity continues. We cannot say Christ, we cannot say Merry Christmas, but some how it is ok to mock Christmas. We can’t say Merry Christmas during the Christmas holiday because we may offend people, we can’t have Christmas trees in college libraries, we can’t sing religious Christmas carols but [...]
Statistics show that 92% of Americans believe in God.
We believers need to take back our rights. We are the majority. In a democratic society, the majority rules. Why are we letting these few non-believers have their way?
We are supposed to stand up for GOD.
Amen and Amen Sis! I’ll PRAISE HIS NAME FOREVER!
Merry Christmas! We 8% are not all alike ok?!
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Rock, Feliz Navidad, Here Comes Santa Clause, Silver Bells, White Christmas, Up on the Rooftop, Anything from the Grinch that Stole Christmas, Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, OH Christmas Tree… and many more
There are plenty of Christmas songs – loved and cherished by all, even us Jews – you can throw in The Little Drummer Boy (its modern, not a hymn). I attended public school and participated in Christmas pagents/choirs all through elementary school, I played an elf one year in Santa’s workshop – but if the choir director had been pushing the story of Jesus – My parents would have been uncomfortable about my participation, and rightly so. I am Jewish, and have always understood the differences between Christianity and Judaism. Christianity is vastly different than Judaism in both ceremony and philosophy so its rather insulting to insist, in a public school setting, on something that undermines fundamental beliefs of Judaism – it’s so much more that just a quibble about whether Jesus was the son of God or not. Anyway if kids need to sing about Jesus so much and their parents want to hear that, then take the kids caroling or go to church and sing the overtly religious songs in service. Can’t Christmas be celebrated as a secular holiday and as a religious holiday in their corresponding appropriate settings?
I thought Jews celebrated Hanukkah. So why can’t Christians celebrate Christmas as a Christian Holiday?
Michelle – you can celebrate it as a Christian holiday all you want, although it was originally a Pagan holiday –
http://www.history.com/minisites/christmas/
#9
I have always celebrated CHRISTmas as a religious holiday and I will continue to do so.
If we had a two week holiday in recognition of Hannukah, I would gladly call it Hannukah. I may not celebrate it with all my heart, but at least I would not go around trying to get Jews to quit saying “Hannukah”. We do, in fact, celebrate Hannukah, but there are not all the carols, right? If there were carols to be heard, wonderful, let’s hear them all! God is uneffected by those who want to disown him, but He expects us to stand up for Him out of love, not out of some religious argument. He knows our heart-do we know our own heart?(Me, yes.)
And for those who want God out of everything..yadayada..then I am wondering why they are so annoyed by something they don’t believe in. I don’t believe in aliens. Am I trying to get those folks to stop saying they saw a UFO, or that they were abducted? Heck, no, because they have a right to say and believe that if they want, and if it came along with a song, great! And if it had a two week holiday attached, even better! If God is something to not believe in, then why care what others do with the idea, and especially why spend so much energy fighting against it??
When we sang in Choir, we sang traditional Christian and Jewish traditional songs.. my best friend, is Jewish and she and I always celebrated Christmas together and I celebrated the many observances of her “religion” with her family and her brother was becoming a Rabbi also!.. to this day, my life is richer, having had such a wonderful experience in her families home and she never complained of singing Christmas Carols in our Public H.S. Choir… it was embraced by all 150 of us, from all different experiences/walks of “religion” and we truly, loved one another… and most of our fondest memories were of our choir/band exchanges abroad…
Recently, I’ve been invited to go to Temple with a local Newspaper Editor, his best friend, a journalist too, invited my husband and I after meeting us on the sidewalk, literally, in our town.. he married a woman of Christian Faith, and she worships at a Catholic church… he’s a Jew, and has no problem with attending her church as she has no problem attending temple! I’m excited to go to Temple, as I love the heritage and love the Old Testament ~ and choose to worship in an evangelical church… or where God sends me and that may be a Catholic church, or even a Jewish Temple…
As for Choir, none of the 150 students objected to singing either types of songs and our concerts lasted for a couple hours… many songs, sung to celebrate Hanukkah & Christmas!.. just beautiful!… Singing, music… truly brings unity and togetherness… regardless of “religion”…
it’s all about the LOVE ~ truly… and we loved one another! Regardless.
Truly, #11., makes a good argument and point.
I marvel, at how many out there are of the opinion or even fight about their “rights” to not want to believe or have a “religion” and yet talk about “tolerance”, in the same breath… yet, when it comes to Christianity, all of a sudden, where’s their tolerance? mmm… makes me wonder …
Our Forefathers had great insight, wisdom and every document written from our countries inception, was God inspired and great fruit has been borne out of their Faithfulness and Faith…and generations later, we’ve been blessed with our freedom as a Nation and now, I feel, we’re imploding as a Nation ~ it’s imperative, that we be mindful of God and His blessing this country… if we begin to allow Him to be removed from the U.S.A., be it even in a public event as a concert with folks singing Christmas carols…or on our currency, or in our Pledge of Allegiance, we will become no different than Russia, China, Cuba… and darkness will prevail ~ I truly, believe, that we’ve been blessed as a Nation, due to the Faith of our Forefathers…. and those who remain Faithful… we will continue to be challenged with such.
Interestingly, Ghana, Africa in realizing, our Nation is so blessed, made it policy to put on all their currency “In God We Trust”… and also on about every Taxi cab, the same… is exclaimed…In God We Trust… their countrymen, politicians saw the importance of God… and saw the relationship with the founders of our country…and God… and realized, that we’re a Nation Under God… and have seen the blessings come forth… remove God, the blessings will stop flowing. There are many people there who know, as they’ve experienced it, first hand…I heard this from a Ghahanian himself. I’ve met 4th generation pastor in Russia, who’s Grandparents were sent away to their death, for their Faith… you hear about it, and I MET someone, who so values the opportunity to sing Praises openly now, in his country… so many suffered and were killed to be able to do so ~ and it won’t be long, before that door is closed, once again. I don’t want our country, to become like that. EVER.
Anyhow, enough said. Sing carols! Sing praises! Sing! Rejoice, while we still can!
I’m afraid, we’re imploding as a Nation and we’d better wake up, before it’s too late and we’re looking over our shoulder stupefied…some folks saying what happened?… when some of us, truly know what’s happening… it’s all in the Bible ~ and coming to fruition.
Keeping the Faith.
Till He comes…….. and singing praises and carols ~ and publicly Thanking God and praying for His blessings… to continue… for us all.
Thank you for your story, kitty. That is awesome, and how it should be. I think the root of the problem is with people who don’t believe in God(their right) who are fine with blabbing anything and everything they ‘want’ to, but don’t want Christians to be able to celebrate their holiday the way THEY want to. You notice it is Christianity, not other religions, that these people try to remove. I have many non-Christian friends who cringe at the mention o Jesus, but are highly curious about Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age, and actually believe it is ‘cool’ to be any of these except Christian. I just find it all very interesting. That choir teacher was caught in a political situation, not a religious one.
I don’t mean to open any new cans of worms in this blog-my point I am not so eloquently getting to is this-if you are Christian, refuse to not sing Christmas carols. Sing them out of love for God and what He did for ALL people. Love those who don’t love you and pray for those who don’t know God.
So eloquently shared, said from the heart and I’ve similar experiences and it’s true, the choir teacher is caught in a political situation, not a religious one…loved your post! Point well said!
Recently, my sons came to discuss how on the news they heard how some town is no longer calling their Christmas Tree a Christmas, tree… but a “holiday” tree… they were disgusted and aghast…it’s gone so over the top! (they are 21 & 23) and on their journey of discovering Faith..and not attending church, but are mindful of these changes.
I respect what you’ve shared and shared so very well. Thank you.
Merry Christmas!~
I do not believe in the xmas as it is sold by the companies and churches.
then again, i would miss the xmas thing (with all the christian bs) if it would stop
its part of our history
Kitty-If you check your history you will realize that in fact christmas was in fact a pagan holiday of the season no matter how much you deny it. And in case you forgot, “under god” was not in our founding father pledge of alligance as it was to be a coutry with religious freedom, and seperation of church and state due to the fact that so many of the original settlers were escaping religious persecution themselves.And really, “religion”? A religion in somthing that you have faith in, are you saying that just because you don’t believe in it, all of a sudden it isn’t a religion, and that what your friend had wasn’t faith only because it wasn’t your brand of faith? Even if I said all of a sudden I was a part of the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion, if that is what I truely,deep down in my heart had faith in and believed, then it is a religion. Get over it. And yes I do want my right of religious freedom that I am lawfully given by our constitution, but do you really think that me not wanting you to pray during class is being intolerant? Because what YOU would be doing is what is not tolerant. This is because you refuse to accept others lack of religion, and think that you have the right to force that on people because if they get annoyed at you not respecting their religion you can just whine about how they don’t respect your religion. This frankly is not true, being tolerant is accepting others points of views as perfectly possible, but just not what you wish to believe. And telling me I will go to hell just because I don’t believe you point of view is not tolerant on your end. You refuse to tolerate anyone other than your selves, and still expect others to tolerate you. Have you ever heard the saying that you must give respect to get respect? Think this idea over, because as soon as I stop seeing your people shoving their beliefs down my throat, and saying they will pray for me to become one with the lord, then I will be much more willing to accept that this is how you think. I have given your people years and more chances than they deserve, and not once have I seen my respect returned.
Michelle-I don’t know where you got your “facts” but as of 2008 less than 84% of america said they were religous. So if we just pretended that those over 48.5 million people did not exist where would we be? That is the same as saying you are fine with the Holocaust having happened because it was just the minority. Just because you aren’t in that minority,doesn’t mean that they are any less of people just like you, except for the small fact that you disagree on one issue. Accept the facts and get over the fact that everyone isn’t the same, and not everyone will agree with you. And just because they don’t agree with you does not mean that they are wrong, unless you have an insane amount of evidence you have been hiding under the couch.
Thehappster- Okay so you really think that it is just because we don’t believe it boohoo too bad for us? Once again just because you think you are the majority you don’t give a second to think of life in anothers shoes. How would you like it if the roles were reversed, and just by going to a holiday concert you have to sit through song after song of pagan propaganda being shoved down your throat. See who’s arguing seperation of church and state then. Having god in songs doesn’t bug me because I don’t believe in him, but rather the fact that just because you believe in him you think everyone else on the world should too, and you don’t take the time to really learn about other cultures and beliefs because you are so stuck on your own “superiority” that you think you have going for you.You might notice that we chooce christianity to single out because they are the only ones who are being so decided in the fact that they should have the right to their belief, but no one else, just them. You aren’t arguing over the fact that another religion is trying to claim superiority over yours, but the simple fact that everyone else wants all religions treated equally, including yours. And by saying somthing as simple as happy holidays instead of merry christmas, it isn’t taking anything away from chrisitianity, but just finally not taking anything away from all of the other religions. I think it is sad that you think you need to be treated special just because you can’t admit that yes, all religions, as is true with people, are created equal. This need to assert your religion like that is the same as is a school bully’s, they find the need to put others down to feel better about themselves.
And finally to everyone, if you really want to express your faith that much, you can still do in in your church, your house, or go caroling. But if the real problem is that you can’t accept that all religions really are equal, and that you don’t have any more right to be teaching your religion in schools than every other religion does, then get over it! Your religion is not superior, and it doesn’t make you any better of a person (from what I have seen it does the opposite! Less accepting and stuck in your ways no matter how much factual evidence there is for the other side). And if you are that stuck on needing to pray in school or feel better about yourself then just send your kid to a christian school already. Accomadate to the situation, don’t expect the whole world to change around you. Schools refuse to change for all of your little complaints because that would mean doing the same for every other religion. Just be happy school stay neutral, because I am positive that if the only religious book they taught was the Quran you would be singing a whole different tune.
____________
SM: Sorry … Christmas is celebrated as the birth of Christ. Now go back and pray to your pagan idol.
R
SM-I don’t know where you got the idea that I was Pagan, due to the fact that I never mentioned what religion I was for a reason. This is because I find it sad how people in this country still judge everyone based on what religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation someone is. And for the record, I am not Pagan.