Vox

Musings, rants, rambling, general nonsense

War on Christmas Pageants

Posted on | December 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

I am not a firm believer in the “war on Christmas” meme, but I certainly know there are battles that crop up each year.

One such skirmish happened in Missoula, Montana, where a supposed group* of parents demanded that Chief Charlo Elementary School remove all non-secular songs from the Christmas concert. The program shows that the music covers Jewish, Christian, and secular celebrations.
Christmas Tree

For the concert on December 12, students from kindergarten to the third grade sang, ‘Joy to the World,’ ‘Up On a House Top,’ ‘Jolly Old St. Nicholas,’ ‘O Christmas Tree,’ ‘O Come Little Children,’ ‘Deck the Halls,’ a Polish lullaby, a Hanukkah song, a pinata song, a Nutcracker rhythm piece and ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ for the finale.

Students in the fourth and fifth grade had a separate concert where they sang, ‘Season of Bells,’ ‘Dreidel Spins,’ ‘Good Christian Men Rejoice,’ ‘Merry Merry,’ ‘Jolly Old St. Nicholas’ and ‘Go in Peace,’ for the concluding song.

The letter says they believe their children will be bullied for choosing not to participate in singing songs that are religious, though there is no proof or any details to support that claim. However, they claim to have no problem with songs like Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – because those songs offend no one.

But…

If you don’t believe in the Nativity Story, if your tradition holds that Jesus was not the son of God, not the Savior, not even born – how is a song about his birth offensive to you? Why would you have more of a problem singing about a fictional baby in a manger than, say, a snowman that comes to life when he wears a magic hat? Or a flying reindeer who uses his flashing red nose to guide a sleigh full of presents around the world for good little boys and girls? Or a jolly fat man who sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake? A fairy-tale is a fairy-tale, right?

Why, in other words, do people go out of their way to be offended?

Sing the songs, don’t sing the songs, watch the pageant or don’t – but attempting to ruin it for everyone else makes you the bully.

* I say “supposed group” because the demand was sent in an anonymous letter. Could’ve been a mischievous student for all we know.

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Comments

One Response to “War on Christmas Pageants”

  1. likeso
    December 16th, 2013 @ 8:53 am

    goooooood blog bkennelly i like thanks you

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