Posted on 12/06/2004 12:35:30 PM PST by nypokerface
ROME (Reuters) - An Italian teacher's efforts to make a Christmas carol more acceptable to young Muslim students by removing the word "Jesus" has rekindled the debate over religious symbols in the Roman Catholic country.
A middle-school teacher in the northern Italian town of Como set off a storm when she told Muslims in her class that if they preferred they could replace the line "this is the day of Jesus" with "this is the day of virtue."
"Jesus banned in Christmas songs" the daily Il Giornale, run by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's brother, said in a front-page headline Sunday.
"Substituting the word Jesus in a Christmas song is a serious mistake and an offence against the entire Catholic community," Como's mayor, Stefano Bruno, from the center-right Forza Italia (Go Italy) party, told Agi news agency.
Religion has been an increasingly prickly issue in Italy as immigrant communities grow.
A judge sparked a nationwide controversy a year ago when he ordered that a crucifix be taken off a school wall. Pope John Paul weighed in saying it was undemocratic and dangerous to try to erase a country's religious symbols.
Tension mounted again earlier this year when a nursery school refused to hire a Muslim woman, saying her headscarf could scare the children.
But before the latest standoff exploded into a full-blown controversy, the 10- and 11-year-old students resolved the issue by opting to stick to the original lyrics.
The director of the school, Pasquale Capria, told reporters on Sunday: "The foreign students themselves told me it wasn't a problem for them to sing Jesus."
Foreigners, many of them Muslim, represent about 20 percent of the students at the school. There are some one million Muslims living in Italy, a country of around 57 million people.
Since 9/11, it does have a tendency to make me look twice...
Anyone seeing islamics bending over backwards to appease Christians?
It already is. Public school Christmas concerts are now Holiday concerts and in my granddaughter's school, no carols are sung, only santa and reindeer and that kind of song. It's so sad.
bump
Yep, it is.
No, but if you do, I hope you'll post a link to the video! (Not holding my breath waiting for it)
Used to laugh and call him names . . . "
Used to laugh and call him names . . . "
They never let poor Allah
get it on with virgin dames!
LOL!
""The foreign students themselves told me it wasn't a problem for them to sing Jesus."
Then why push an obvious 'adult' agenda on them?
NOPE!!
And when did the muslim religion take on such importance?
I never heard anything about them and suddenly they are upfront and center stage and God forbid anyone should upset them after they all the have their "rights".
Yeh they have the right to leave ALL Christians ALONE!
And leave our CHRISTmas songs alone, etc etc.
Our Country was founded on Christianity not muslims.Especially radical ones.
Then one foggy Ramadan,Allah came to say,
"Mohommed with your turban so tight,
Won't you slay infidels tonight"
Then how the mad horde loved him
as they shouted out with glee
Allah the bloodthirsty moon god
You'll blight human history!
...Don't forget those timeless classics like "We Wish You a Happy Ramabomb," "Frosty the Arab," "Hark the 72 Virgins Sing," "We Three Jihadists," and "Let it Blow, Let it Blow, Let it Blow." And if you order right now, we'll send you absolutely free of charge a very special holiday CD by none other than Moham and his Murderers...
When the actions of immigrants begin to threaten the survival of a country-they have become a plague, and must be treated as such.
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