Religion
Related: About this forumGood Grief!: Elementary School Reluctantly Cancels Field Trip To See ‘Merry Christmas Charlie Brown’
Source:Wall of Separation
Dec 10, 2012
by Simon Brown
LINK: https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/good-grief-elementary-school-reluctantly-cancels-field-trip-to-see-merry
But unlike Lucys mean-spirited prank, the church did the right thing even though it did so grudgingly.
First and second graders at Terry Elementary School in Little Rock were invited by a local house of worship, Agape Church, to see a stage adaptation of the 1965 cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas, on Dec. 14, said KATV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock.
The play includes a retelling of the Nativity Story by Linus, KATV said, and that had at least one parent upset. So that parent complained to the Arkansas Society of Free Thinkers (ASFT), who informed the school that it was walking into a potential church-state problem.
no_hypocrisy
(46,104 posts)opening it up to the public? The fact that it involved the public school makes the purpose suspect.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)for school trips, but canceled it due to the complaints.
no_hypocrisy
(46,104 posts)It was time taken out of their public school curriculum. They can go to afterschool performances.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I wonder if it would have been OK if they had included a number of different experiences, including a pagan seasonal celebration.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)immoderate
(20,885 posts)A little room here.
--imm
murielm99
(30,741 posts)and let everyone else go at their family's discretion? Why ruin it for everyone?
Kids are going to be exposed to the nativity story all over the place during the Christmas season. Their parents can tell them what their own family believes, whether they are religious or not.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)be a good lesson for the young lad about being of the minority religion.
Something like that, eh?
murielm99
(30,741 posts)and non-Christian people. You have no right to make such an insulting comment.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)How else to say what you said. oh sure they may not be jewish. But that is the exact essence of your sentiment.
Next time you say the "outsider" should stay home maybe you will think about exactly what you are saying.
Probably not.
murielm99
(30,741 posts)Christian. Children are going to be exposed to it one way or another, especially since Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year for Christians. Many people celebrate Christmas in a completely secular way. It is up to them. In many ways, a little Charlie Brown play shows the spirit of the season. Everyone can be included in the Christmas spirit.
We have ultra-Christian people here who do not allow their children to participate in all the public school programs. That is up to them. We have Jehovah's Witnesses who take their kids home early when there is any type of holiday party. There are some Muslim families here, mostly Albanian, who do allow their children to participate in the gift exchanges and parties at school. We have some Jewish families and some Hindu families. My daughter learned a great deal from one of the Jewish boys who was her friend, and invited his whole class to his bar mitzvah. The families take part or do not take part at their at their own discretion.
You would have to be stupid not to notice that many other cultures have religious celebrations and festivals this time of year. It is reasonable to include them in any school or community activities. But then you don't sound very reasonable to me.
You are spoiling for a fight and you are simply a nasty person. You are attributing motives and sentiments to me that are simply not true. You pick apart what I say to find anything to use for a nasty comeback. You are not worth talking to any more.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)ostracized if they did not give permission to go.
I never saw this as a particularly religious piece, but a broader one that spoke to the positive messages that can be conveyed by christmas.
murielm99
(30,741 posts)I think that was probably why the school chose this particular play to see.
Quite a few DU members are making this into a major church vs. state incident. That is ridiculous. Sometimes this place makes my head hurt.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)In my case it was a grandchild but trying to get it to end was a nightmare and anything and everything ended up as subject matter for bullying.
Having the rest of the class go to an event my grandchild was kept away from would have been absolutely primo bullying material.
murielm99
(30,741 posts)If you think your grandchlld should avoid bullying by being like everyone else, so be it.
The people in this thread are getting very strange. This whole subject has been pushed beyond anything sensible.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)This wasn't anything remotely resembling a necessary field trip and the whole religion thing in some parts of the country is used remarkably often as a pretext for bullying behavior.
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)it's not like it's a huge cultural event or something
jeepnstein
(2,631 posts)at the number of kids who don't know the first thing at all about theater etiquette. I'm all in favor of teaching them how to enjoy seeing a show.
As far as Linus' famous speech about the Nativity. Well, you just can't please everyone. It's part of the show. Looks like the "Society of Free Thinkers" or whatever it's called wasn't so much into free thinking.
no_hypocrisy
(46,104 posts)was being used to take kids out of the classroom, denying them academic curricula, and sending them physically to a church to see a semi-theistic juvenile theater production under the guise of entertainment. (Not that I would have been entirely happy if the production was held within the public school but it wouldn't be the same thing as what was presented in this case.)