Hat Tip, Scared Monkeys for a classic War Against Christmas atrocity. In a beautifully constructed blog (with excellent links to videos of the great Carols) [Addendum:But not the first three links, alas] attention is drawn to: School choir forced to pull out of Christmas concert as carols were 'too religious' , By Andrew Levy, MailOnline Dec 12 2008
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 Nicola Hales, 36, whose nine-year-old daughter Rhiannon goes to Arthur Bugler County Junior School in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, said: 'They must have been practising for about six weeks. 'It's ridiculous that you can't sing religious songs. It's Christmas - when can you sing them?'
This actually happened in the UK (although Scared Monkeys appears to be American). An interesting and frequent occurrence with these kinds of events in Britain:
The non-religious event was planned by Corringham Town Festival Partnership, even though the area is in Thurrock, where 75 per cent of the population described themselves as Christian in the 2001 census. The next biggest religious group was Muslims, who make up one per cent of the population, followed by Sikhs, who account for barely half of one per cent of residents. A spokesman for Thurrock Islamic Education and Cultural Association said: 'I don't think any Muslims would be offended by carols.' (VDARE.com emphasis.)
Traffic and email experience indicates our readers generally are not very interested in European stories—even though VDARE.com thinks they are highly relevant and instructive. In this case, though, any American of Christian sympathy should realise that this is happening because of American influence. In the United Kingdom there is an Established Church. State Schools give religious instruction (from which all who choose to can withdraw). There is no Constitutional language capable of being distorted into banning Government tolerance of religious expression (because there is no Constitution!). Yet this is happening. It is happening because of the the enormous cultural influence of the United Stares. We are responsible! The Scared Monkeys story has another beauty: Politically correct Christmas carols censor 'king', 'son' and 'virgin' By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent Telegraph.co.uk December 12, 2008
Churchgoers at one carol service will not be allowed to sing the words "all in white" during Once in Royal David's City in case they appear racist, while another cleric has removed the word "virgin" from God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.
This of course emanates from the established Anglican (Episcopal) Church, which is completely mad (speaking as a member). Some might suggest that our referring to UK examples suggests this is not happening in America. There are two refuting facts. (1) The American MSM does not want to report these stories. (2) News is about change. Alas, many of these atrocities have already occurred in this country. On a pleasanter note, Google has supplied another elegant and charming essay on the Christmas season by a Jew: A Jew's View of Christmas
I grew up in the 1950s in New Bedford, Mass…Even if you were a Jewish kid and you knew this day was not designed for you, you couldn’t help but share in the excitement. My parents, who were born in Europe at a time when it was unfortunate to be both European and Jewish, were unable to conceal their own ambivalence. Our small family would drive to Christian neighborhoods admiring decorations. We once ventured all the way to Boston—in those days a two-hour drive— where we saw live reindeer fenced in on Boston Commons beside a large illuminated plastic nativity scene. As a Jewish kid, we had Hanukkah. But the Festival of Lights, as it is called, seemed pale in the shadow of all that Christmas glitter of tinsel and bright blinking bulbs. Christmas was everywhere in the windows of homes and stores, on lawns in parks and even on rooftops. Yes, it was in the schools and no one even thought of objecting at that time. I still wouldn't. While he was still alive, my grandfather, a white-haired kindly old man gave me Hanukkah ”gelt,” in the form of a silver dollar. A dollar was big-time money back then, but how could my grandfather ever compete with the other white-haired guy, the one in the red suit with the elves, the flying sleigh and all his well-disguised doubles in department stores? ……then there were the miracles. Theirs was the birth of God’s son on a night when animals talked. Ours was that a temple light burned for a long time. Big deal. Our most popular Hanukkah song was, ”Dreydle, Dreydle, Dreydle,” which has the same melodic merit as ”Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Not quite on par with ”Silent Night,” ”First Noel” or even, for that matter, ”Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” I started remembering all this yesterday… as I sat at a traffic light… I saw a sign that reminded me about what I envied most about Christmas. It hung in huge, slightly lopsided, letters across University Avenue. It said: ”Peace on Earth.”
What a Gentleman. Thank Shel Israel.
