Neutering Religious Holidays

Townhall.com ^ | November 18, 2014 | Chuck Norris

[Kaslin]

Folks, our country is heading down a slippery slope. We have to stop it before it is too late.

We haven't even hit Thanksgiving, and already the war on Christmas is underway. This time, one of the largest public school systems in the U.S. is eliminating every mention of religious holidays on its official calendar.

The Montgomery County Board of Education in Maryland has cut Christmas and Easter, as well as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana, from next year's school calendar. No religious holiday will be mentioned by name.

NPR reported on the origin of the decision: "The path to the board's decision started about two years ago on something that was somewhat unrelated. Members of the county's Muslim community -- roughly estimated at around 10 percent of the more than 1 million population -- were seeking to have two of their religion's holy days added to the calendar of days off. They wanted Eid al-Adha the most."

Instead of adopting new religious days for Muslims, however, the board approved the removal of all Christian and Jewish religious holiday references by a 7-1 vote. The students will continue to get the same religious days off, but there will be generic references to them, such as "winter break." Board members have even gone so far as to reinterpret the historical recognition of the holidays by saying that the days off are not meant to observe those religious holidays.

The board's president, Phil Kauffman, explained, "The best way to accommodate the diversity of our community is to not make choices about which communities we're going to respect in our calendar and which ones we're not going to respect."

But does religious neutering accommodate diversity or merely endorse secular progressivism and political correctness as America's new religion? Choices are the very actions our Bill of Rights was created to protect. In the end, however, rather than affirm Americans' freedom of religion, society has spawned their freedom from religion.

NPR reported that nearly all of the 16 districts across the country that are larger than Montgomery County Public Schools have already discarded any mention of religious holidays on their calendars.

That's not the America our Founding Fathers created for us. That's not unity in diversity. That's not education but pipeline progressivism pumping out another indoctrination camp.

Have you ever heard the phrase that the only thing that goes with the flow is a dead fish? What about the saying that if two people are thinking exactly the same, you can bet that one person isn't thinking?

And where's our president when these Christian and Jewish references are being erased from civic calendars? Is he crying out in defense of religious liberty and our First Amendment? Nope. He's as silent as a church mouse, just as he's been for the past six years on any such matter. And animosity toward religion continues to grow.

That's why I encourage you to rent or buy the DVD "Last Ounce of Courage." The movie explains exactly what we are facing in America. There is a short speech at the end of the movie by the lead actor, Marshall Teague, which will make your hair stand on end. Marshall addresses a large crowd as he speaks from the top of a building in a town much like a town in the Maryland county that has become completely secular and progressive. His powerful message will resonate with every freedom-loving American.

Let us never forget that there was once a time in the U.S. when people and even presidents weren't afraid to stand for traditional values and encourage others to do the same.

Case in point, President Ronald Reagan, in his 1981 Christmas address, televised and on the radio from the Oval Office for the entire nation and world to hear, said: "At this special time of year, we all renew our sense of wonder in recalling the story of the first Christmas in Bethlehem, nearly 2,000 years ago. Some celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a great and good philosopher and teacher. Others of us believe in the divinity of the child born in Bethlehem, that he was and is the promised Prince of Peace. ... Like the shepherds and wise men of that first Christmas, we Americans have always tried to follow a higher light, a star, if you will. At lonely campfire vigils along the frontier, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, through war and peace, the twin beacons of faith and freedom have brightened the American sky. At times, our footsteps may have faltered, but trusting in God's help, we've never lost our way. ... So let this holiday season be for us a time of rededication. ... Tonight, in millions of American homes, the glow of the Christmas tree is a reflection of the love (of) Jesus. ... Christmas means so much because of one special child."

[sphinx]

Montgomery County is 10% Muslim? That is hard to believe.

[AbnSarge]

I live there. Muslims are about 1.5%

[kearnyirish2]

Isn’t Christmas a federal holiday? Kind of sets it apart from other religious occasions, no?

[ripley]

The tail wagging the dog.

IMHO

[SECURE AMERICA]

Montgomery County is 10% Muslim? That is hard to believe.

Indeed. I call bullshit on that. Just as the MSM and homofacist push the 10% homosexual stats to help further their agenda. The real stats according to census for Homosexuals runs between 1-2%. A good deal of difference. I suspect the stats on muslims would be similar.

[SECURE AMERICA]

Yes Christmas IS a Federal Holiday.
Date Holiday
Wednesday, January 1 New Year’s Day
Monday, January 20 Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 17 * Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 26 Memorial Day
Friday, July 4 Independence Day
Monday, September 1 Labor Day
Monday, October 13 Columbus Day
Tuesday, November 11 Veterans Day
Thursday, November 27 Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, December 25 Christmas Day
* This holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday.” Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is Federal policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

[DaveA37]

Since when does 10% of the population dictate to the remaining 90%? If the 90% want Christmas, stop listening to or reacting to the 10%, you will never appease them anyway. This politically correct crap, being “mister nice guy” will NEVER get you anywhere. You want Christmas, Easter and whatever holiday you pick to continue, just do what our ancestors did and go for it. Who really care what the 10% want?

[kearnyirish2]

Thanks; I guess that will have to change (can’t have Christians singled out like that).

Diversity is definitely an obstacle to be overcome; there is no strength in it...

[RoseofTexas]

Whatever happen to Thanksgiving?? All I see is christmas commercials...did I blink and missed thanksgiving ?

[Alberta's Child]

In one sense I would actually side with the school districts in this case. There's no reason why any one religious group should hold sway over others when it comes to recognition of religious holidays.

But I'd also suggest that this is one more piece of evidence for why public schools shouldn't even exist. In fact, they have no place in a free nation.

[Amity]

But I'd also suggest that this is one more piece of evidence for why public schools shouldn't even exist. In fact, they have no place in a free nation.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. I'm not opposed to a voucher system, but one way or another, parents should have considerably more control over where their kids go, and there need to be more options. The problem here is that it isn't the parents of the kids going to school deciding on school holidays, but rather the government.

[lentulusgracchus]

{Art.} The board's president, Phil Kauffman, explained, "The best way to accommodate the diversity of our community is to not make choices about which communities we're going to respect in our calendar and which ones we're not going to respect."

But that is exactly what you did, you moron.

And this in the one American colony that was founded to grant a haven of refuge and respite from persecution to people of the Roman Catholic faith.

Now we've got Musselmen telling us to take down Christian holidays lest their halalidays be slighted.

Get on a plane, travel 4000 miles ...... and knock over Christianity with political demands. Who're the idiots who are letting these guys get away with stuff like this? We need to take a page from the Aussies.

"AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!!"

[oldtech]

I think you are not seeing much made of Thanksgiving because it is not the commercial success for the various merchants that Christmas is. Same thing would happen to Christmas if folks decided not to do all that gift buying/giving.