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No school "Happy Birthdays"..Religious group objects
JimVT ^ | 10/01 | JimVT

Posted on 10/01/2004 6:56:08 PM PDT by JimVT

Religious group objects to "Happy Birthday" songs


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: birthdays; happy; happybirthday; hypersensitivity; it; no; offends; some
In the small Vermont school where I work a few hours a day it has been the custom at lunchtime to sing a "Happy Birthday" song to the student who was celebrating that event.

The kids are 5 to 7 years of age in a K-2 school.

Last week I learned that the practice of the birthday salutes was ended because two parents of a particular religious denomination objected to THEIR CHILD HAVING TO BE EXPOSED TO to this practice.

There are 260 kids in the school who seemed to enjoy the little salute and (perhaps) looked forward to the same recognition on THEIR day.

Nope....no more.....political correctness wins again...and the School District honchos have caved in.

I haven't caved in and you may be hearing more about this issue.

1 posted on 10/01/2004 6:56:10 PM PDT by JimVT
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To: JimVT
two parents of a particular religious denomination

As in Jevovah Witness?

Most Christian denominations consider this is cult

2 posted on 10/01/2004 7:00:09 PM PDT by apackof2 (Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!)
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To: JimVT
two parents of a particular religious denomination

As in Jevovah Witness?

Most Christian denominations consider this is cult

3 posted on 10/01/2004 7:00:20 PM PDT by apackof2 (Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!)
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To: JimVT

Payback is going to be a b!tch for the people that keep making these objections. The more they push, the more it's going to come down on their heads.


4 posted on 10/01/2004 7:01:02 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (Vietnam Veterans Reconciliation Day - 02NOV2004.)
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To: JimVT

Look, if they want their kids to be educated in the secular world, they're going to have to deal with secular traditions.

They don't want their kids whining that they want a birthday party. I'm sure Jehovah's Witness parents have dealt with that issue before WITHOUT forcing a ban. But, these guys are too weak in their beliefs, so everyone suffers.


5 posted on 10/01/2004 7:10:53 PM PDT by stands2reason (Limousine Liberal--a man who has his cake, eats his cake, and complains that other people have cake.)
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To: JimVT

What could possibly be wrong about singing Happy Birthday to someone? Those are the only words in the song.. Happy Birthday to you. What is the objection, never heard of this.


6 posted on 10/01/2004 7:24:19 PM PDT by Esther Ruth
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To: JimVT

?!?!? What possible religious significance could "Happy Birthday" have? Maybe they're objecting to the "happy"- happiness must of course come from sinning.
Still, sounds pretty farfetched to me. Got a link to a newspaper article?


7 posted on 10/01/2004 10:51:45 PM PDT by Ostlandr (Nationalist, small-r republican, fiscal conservative, social liberal, pagan. NOT a Bush partisan!)
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To: JimVT
I've sometimes thought someone should sing:
You're birthday's today.
What more can we say?
The tune's out of cop-y-right
ASCAP go away!
[the first two syllables of "copyright" would be eighth notes].

The tune "Good morning to all" was written and published long before the copyright cutoff of 1922. As such, it is clearly and unambigiously in the public domain. I don't know of any complete published version of the lyrics to "Happy Birthday" prior to 1922; as such, it the lyrics could conceivably be covered under copyright.

Even this is dubious, since FWIW at least one pre-1922 songbook listed "Happy birthday to you" as an alternate title to "Good morning to all". Further, since the Birthday Song can be derived from the earlier one via:

s/Good morning/Happy birthday
s/children/[person's name]
s/all/you
and the latter two of those changes were probably quite common even with the "Good morning" song, I don't think a copyright should stand up.
8 posted on 10/02/2004 4:17:36 PM PDT by supercat (If Kerry becomes President, nothing bad will happen for which he won't have an excuse.)
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To: JimVT

Cumpleanos feliz
Cumpleanos feliz
Cumpleanos mi hermanos
drop Kerry in the grease

:^)

Dios Mio, dos chicas en la cocina!


9 posted on 10/03/2004 1:46:53 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (W'04)
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To: Liberty Valance
¿No estaba eso en la cocina de Clinton???
10 posted on 10/03/2004 2:12:10 PM PDT by JimVT (I was born a Democrat..but then I grew up)
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