Public schools banning christmas carols?

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More and more public schools in America (I'm nor sure about other countries) have started to ban Christmas carols because they might offend people of other faiths. As someone of another faith (Judaism), I think that's an awful thing to do. Even if I don't happen to celebrate Christmas, I still think that they're beautiful songs. Censoring music from different religions won't make us more tolerant of our differences. We need to learn to embrace each others' cultures. is it normal I hate that they're doing this?

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Based on 82 votes (33 yes)
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Comments ( 26 )
  • dirtybirdy
    11 years ago | pl

    Its insane how many things are being banned because we don't want to offend anyone. For fucks sake people!! New york schools had to have their big tests rewritten to exclude things like 'dinosaur' because that may offend people who don't believe in evolution. They couldn't refer to computers being personally owned as that may offend the less fortunate. A preschool changed baa baa black sheep to baa baa rainbow sheep. They don't call it sitting 'indian style' anymore. A jewish woman sued a town for saying the pledge of allegiance before council meetings. Schools don't have christmas parties now they have holiday parties. Ughhh I could go on all day.

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  • Valetion
    11 years ago

    You know what, Christians and Catholic Beliefs and traditions are out down because they're "pushing all the other religions out"

    I say fuck that.

    In schools, we're still alowed to celebrate Kwaanza, but not Christmas. I still see that as a very serious crime!!!

    Just because minority religions bitch and complain about what the Catholics and Christians did to their followers MANY years ago, does not give them the damn right to make the two major religions bend over f-ing backwards and kiss their ass.

    It's sad that minority religions are out on a pedistle just because of shit that happened over 100 years ago. It's just like the white people vs. the black people. Shit went down a long time ago. We don't owe them squat. So what? Your great great great grandfather was a slave? That sucks. Stop sucking your thumb and thinking that you should be treated like f-ing royalty. Get over it.

    So pretty much, white catholic/Christian people need to give up their beliefs and bow down to everyone else?

    What makes "everyone else" so special?

    I'm not gonna say "happy holidays"

    I'm gonna say "MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS" to every Jew, Hindu etc person out there, I don't give a fuck if you're offended. If YOU have the right to celebrate your religion openly, then SO DO I.

    1) I will not treat you like you're a god and that your religion is better than mine.

    2) I will not apologize for MISTAKES my ancestors made.

    3) can't eat pork? Then go to a different restaurant. Don't "demand" that this "travesty" be corrected. How would you like it if I said "oh no. There's Jewish food on this menu. I'm gonna sue your ass for not respecting my RELIGION by stuffing your shitty food in my face."

    4) don't like Christians? Don't like Catholics? Go back to Pakistan.

    I'm not saying that I hate all other religions. I'm saying that I hate the mistreatment of my religion.

    If you can sing Jewish fucking carols in school, then goddamnit, I'm gonna sing jingle bells.

    :)

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    • Valetion
      11 years ago

      I was too harsh on the white vs. black example.

      What I meant was

      How many times must Caucasians apologize for something that happened over 200 years ago? How long must this go on. Like seriously, I think it's just becoming a "pride" thing now.

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  • KnightNigelWellingtonXXI
    11 years ago

    Might as well ban people since they're doing all the "offending".

    Signed,
    Knight Nigel Wellington XXI

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  • shade_ilmaendu
    11 years ago

    How about rather than ban Christmas Carols include songs from all kinds of different religions, that way you're promoting cultural education at the same time. o.o

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    • LesserKnownCharacter
      11 years ago

      That would potentially offend the non-religious.

      I was in school back when they celebrated all holidays based on whatever was considered the most popular traditions. Christmas, no hanukkah or kwaanza, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, all that. Then I was lucky enough to hit that 'sensitivity' transition where they started calling it a holiday party, and banned Halloween all together, and made us learn about all religions and cultures, and stuck in the token hanukkah and kwaanza song. I HATED it. I wished they kept it all out of school because I wasn't religious and I didn't want any part of any of it. I did enjoy Halloween though. But Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, so we can't have those either. I personally don't see much of a religious connection to either of those holidays as far as what they have become in modern times especially but I guess some people do.

      I can't see how it's possible to fairly promote all beliefs because it's impossible to include non-belief in there, isn't it? Is there an anti-Christmas song? lol that sounds pretty funny actually. But an anti-Christmas song could offend Christians. An anti-Halloween costume would be showing up naked, I guess. It would never end, so I'm in support of none of it being in school whatsoever.

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      • shade_ilmaendu
        11 years ago

        Well maybe you should quit being butthurt that some people believe in things and get the fuck over it. I'm not religious either but I find it interesting to learn about other cultures, and you're never gonna fucking make everyone happy.

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        • LesserKnownCharacter
          11 years ago

          Whoa! I'm not butthurt :)

          I screwed up in my post, I explained it to disthing below. I didn't mean to say I disapproved of learning about religions and cultures, what I meant to say (and failed miserably at) was that I disapprove of participating in or honoring any religious stuff.

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          • shade_ilmaendu
            11 years ago

            Argh, looks like I'm just fucking shit up all over IIN today, all thanks to screaming mouth pain. It's quite distracting.

            I feel like it's not necessarily a bad thing to have in schools because we do live in such a multicultural society and it's blending more and more every year. If it's presented in an objective fashion with thought given to secularism as well (Hell, Winter Wonderland is a secular Christmas song, right?? :P and Christmas used to be a pagan holiday anyway... bet it was more fun. Drunken orgies with them crazy Romans) I feel it's beneficial to kids because it teaches them to accept and get along with people who think differently from them.

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      • disthing
        11 years ago

        I understand your point, but I think religious education is a good thing to have at school. That doesn't mean religious promotion or celebration, though. I think it's important to deliver that kind of information to children in an objective way.

        A secular song doesn't have to be an anti-religious song, just as religious songs aren't usually anti-atheist. "Silent Night, Holy Night, let the non-believers burn in hell" isn't a carol I've ever come across. Some religious songs are great, and if they are taught in schools they should come with the disclaimer *this is a song people who believe in X wrote. I don't see a problem with that.

        It is possible to educate about a number of belief systems including non-religion. There isn't enough time in the world to cover them all, but then we don't learn about every second of history the world over when studying History, do we? It's not about 'fairly promoting all beliefs', it's about choosing what information will be most useful in educating a child about the world around them and the society they're in. Good or bad, religion is still a huge factor in many people's lives and it'd be wrong to pretend otherwise.

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        • LesserKnownCharacter
          11 years ago

          I screwed up, I didn't mean that I didn't approve of studying religions and culture in general but it came out that way, huh? Sometimes I type faster than I think! Note to self: proofread!

          I just disapprove of honoring or celebrating any religious traditions in school. Learning facts, fine. But I don't want to participate in anything religious to any degree.

          Since a public school is a government institution, they aren't supposed to promote any 1 religion more than another. If they do x for one, they have to do x for all. They should just do nothing special for all and avoid hassle and infringing on anyone's rights. No songs, no rituals, no celebrating holidays. It's fine to learn who believes and celebrates what and why but to actually participate in it, glorify it and honor it is going too far.

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          • disthing
            11 years ago

            I agree with you.

            I actually went to a Church of England junior school (government paid for) that had prayers and hymns integrated into our assemblies, and, as much as I didn't mind them, looking back it wasn't right to expect us to participate in worship. State schools should remain without religious affiliation.

            However I actually think some celebration of holidays is good, it's just the way in which it's done. I mean, many people celebrate Christmas despite not being Christian - it's become as much a tradition amongst the secular as the religious, it's a cultural holiday as much as a religious one. So I don't see the harm in celebrating Christmas in a school environment, as long as they do it in the most inoffensive way possible.

            Halloween too! I mean that's lost most of the spiritual meaning and is just a cultural holiday on which people dress up in crazy outfits and celebrate all things gothic and spooky.

            My school also celebrated Harvest Festival, which is actually a pagan tradition sort of adopted by Christianity in some parts. The nice thing about that holiday was we celebrated it by donating items of food, and that food would then be sent to impoverished people around the world.

            So these kinds of holidays can teach a lesson (such as charity), and they can be done without an emphasis on religion. There is something exciting for children about these annual events, when they can get involved in something different within a school environment. I think it would be a shame to lose that sense of fun.

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  • Justsomejerk
    11 years ago

    I agree. Even though I hate carols and Christmas, I still think censoring music is ridiculous.

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  • NeuroNeptunian
    11 years ago

    Hey, you carolers! Quit trying to push your damned religion and your damned Jesus on me!

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  • NocturnePonyFan
    11 years ago

    And this is why I wish the world ended before 2000. I hate this "politically correct" bullshit that drives our society these days. I'm not even religious, but I wish I was still in school so I could walk around singing fucking "Silent Night" in protest.

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  • dom180
    11 years ago

    Well schools aren't banning kids from singing carols out of school, are they? They can't do that :P

    I don't see what's so wrong with them banning carols in schools; most kids wouldn't sing them at all if the schools didn't force them too in the first place! I don't see it as "banning Christmas carols", rather "we're not going to force you to sing Christmas carols anymore". It isn't as if some right that the kids really care about it being taken away from them. I mean, why should school time be taken up singing carols anyway? I'm sure if singing Christmas carols means so much to kids they can do it outside school.

    I legitimately don't see why this is such a bad thing.

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    • VioletTrees
      11 years ago

      Oh my god, reason! But yes, I completely agree. There's no reason to celebrate religious holidays in school.

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      • dom180
        11 years ago

        Aw, someone thumbed us down :(

        I know I'll get thumbs-downed (if that's even a word) again for saying this, but I think people tend to jump on the anti-PC bandwagon the moment the smell even a whiff of political correctness without even thinking critically about the specific case, or looking at the other side of the argument. The popular thing to do at the moment is just to hate anything that might be construed as politically correct without even considering if it's right or wrong.

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    • NormalIsOverratedBeANinja
      10 years ago

      Well, it takes away the right to have a Halloween party.

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      • dom180
        10 years ago

        What does, and how does it do that? I don't understand :S

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        • NormalIsOverratedBeANinja
          10 years ago

          Everyone is embowed with an inalienable right to party, and if you ban all holiday parties with any kind of religious background, like Christmas or Halloween, kids don't get their sugar intake.

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          • dom180
            10 years ago

            Which one of the Beastie Boys are you? :P

            Anyway, my point is that I'm sure they can party out of school.

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  • KeddersPrincess
    11 years ago

    I gonna have to agree with this. I get it that we should be opened to everyone's religion, but I think they're kind of pushing it too far.

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  • Terence_the_viking
    11 years ago

    I could understand a faith school that isn't christian banning them.

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  • drugsrbadmkay
    11 years ago

    As a Christian, I'm going to have to call bullshit on this one. Can you provide a reputable source documenting "more and more schools" are banning Christmas carols?

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  • m.a.s97
    11 years ago

    America is a country based on Christianity (when it comes to religion) so personally I think it doesn't make much sense.

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