County schools OK 'Christmas' vacation

[pdxkevin]

God forbid anyone ever be "offended." Being offensive is the apparently the number 1 hate crime in America these days. Bravo to this school board and leadership! We need more to stand up to the PC BS!

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County schools OK 'Christmas' vacation
By Wayne Risher
January 30, 2004

Shelby County school officials will ditch political correctness and call a midyear vacation Christmas break.

The name change is either a nonissue or a sign of religious insensitivity, depending on whom you ask.

Tim Wildmon of the Tupelo-based American Family Association said dissenters "should get over it and be grateful we live in a free nation that tolerates different religious views and not in some Islamic country that forbids anything that is not Muslim."

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, called the move shocking. "They're now on record as being totally insensitive to the religious diversity in the community."

The school board didn't discuss the change Thursday as it unanimously approved a 2004-2005 school calendar.

Board member Joe Clayton proposed it last week, saying, "This is Christmas break. I get offended when I see that pushed to the background."

Zekaria Abdurehman, 41, a Muslim African emigre and naturalized U.S. citizen with four children in county schools, said he was offended.

"The holiday is not only for the Christians. When you call it winter break everybody can celebrate their own holiday. It makes me feel like we are isolated." . . . . . the rest of the story

[steelheadslayer]

There is no coincidence that the 'winter' break occurs during Christmas. Our forfathers didn't seem to think this would become an issue when they designated it as a holiday. Same with Easter, why do we recognize that as a holiday?

Christmas is celebrated for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Easter is celebrated for the rising after his death. The rest of the holidays are pagan celebrations IMO.

MLK is celebrated with respect for everything he did for the Equal Rights Movement. If everyone celebrated Christmas and Easter with conviction then we shouldn't need to celebrate other peoples' contribution to societies gains.

I've said it before and I'll die with these feelings: This country was founded on the principle of religious freedom. Basically to get out from under the Catholic Churchs' intolerance of other religious beliefs. Catholicism was controlled by the govt, which is why we have the separation of church and state in this country. This provision was not to keep religion out of the govt. but to keep the govt. from controlling the religious practices. Christianity at that time was the number one belief other than Catholicism. So if people who emigrate here are offended by what we believe then they can go back to the country they came from which accepts their individual religious beliefs.

They are here because they are tolerated, no matter what they believe.

My hats off to this district who have the insight to call the Christmas Break what it is. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[garyk]

"The rest of the holidays are pagan celebrations IMO."

More right than you think...

While the event is about Christ, the timing (on about Winter Solstice) was a deliberate effort by the christian church to co-op the old earth-god holidays.

Kind of a clever strategy of wrapping the old into the new, because the common folks were not about to give up all that Solstice fun to which they'd become accustomed.

BTW, 'christmas trees' aren't in the Bible either - wanna guess where that practice originates from?

[1pump]

A few years ago I was at my sister's house for Christmas dinner and she showed everybody a school calendar from one of her kid's elementary school.

Hanukka was noted on the proper date, as was Kwanzaa.
On Dec 25th, it simply said "holiday".

IMHO, it was a deliberate attempt to offend the majority. Nothing PC about it.

[pdxkevin]

I wonder if Australians call it 'summer' break?