report to the principals office at once!
Posted on 11/17/2004 5:26:11 PM PST by concretebob
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A school district's long-standing policy banning Christmas songs with religious references is under scrutiny after officials clarified that it includes the prohibition of the performance of instrumental numbers without lyrics.
Instead of tunes about Jesus, and even Santa Claus, the 40-member Columbia High School brass ensemble will be limited for the first time to seasonal selections such as "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman," the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
Some parents of students in the South Orange/Maplewood School District in New Jersey are perplexed, including Eric Chabrow, whose son plays saxophone in the ensemble.
"There needs to be safeguards in school," Chabrow told the Newark paper. "But musical notes don't sanction religion."
Superintendent Peter P. Horoschak explained the brass ensemble's Christmas carols have slipped under the radar since the policy was adopted in the 1990s. A few have complained about it, he said, and this year the district is trying to be proactive.
"Rather than try to respond to all the various religions and try to balance them, it's best to stay away from that and simply have a nonreligious tone to them and have more of a seasonal tone," he told the Star-Ledger.
Rabbi Jehiel Orenstein of Congregation Beth El in South Orange, N.J., said instrumental renditions of religious holiday songs are fine as long as everyone is included.
"I love music," he told the Star-Ledger. "There are overtones to instrumental music. I just want to make sure it's inclusive, then we don't leave anyone out."
The New Jersey School Boards Association said its sample policy allows for performance of songs from various ethnic or religious groups as a way of broadening students' awareness, but districts are free to impose tighter restrictions.
"The law will permit a school-sponsored event to have religious music as long as it does not dominate the program, is not being used to promote religion and is presented for educational purposes to teach," Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the organization, told the Star-Ledger.
The South Orange/Maplewood policy was clarified in an Oct. 29 memo by Nicholas Santoro, the chair of the district's Fine Arts Department, who said songs such as "Winter Wonderland" or "Frosty the Snowman" are acceptable.
"Music centered on peace is also a nice touch," he wrote, according to the Newark daily.
The memo also states that printed programs for holiday concerts "must avoid graphics which refer to the holidays, such as Christmas trees and dreidels."
The newspaper interviewed Ellen Relkin of Maplewood, N.J., a parent of three children in the district who said the policy might be "a little excessive" but worries that people who don't observe Christmas, such as Jews and Hindus, might feel left out of the school activity.
Related story:
Christmas in America becomes battleground
The students will be forced to convert to Islam, however.
Sorry, but this is WAY over the border - DEEP into absurd...
No worries....I don't think the irreligious left will be able to identify hymns by the tune.....
Borders? It is absurd. Oh well. The pendulum has just commenced its swing in the other direction. PC can't last forever.
Alright, class! Who's that humming? I want it to stop right now. If that humming doesn't stop you all have mandatory detention.
America is a Protestant Christian nation. All others should assimilate or be deported. Tolerance has gone far enough. If you came here only to suck the money, you can take your money and leave.
let's see, the school wants to have a christmas program so that the kids can show off their skills to their parents. the school district, however, will not let christmas songs played at the christmas program. why have the program at all?
They'd better be prepared to ban the Star Spangled Banner before their football games as well (assuming they have yet to ban football). Lyrics to the fourth verse:
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must,
for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Someone splain the Constitution to the rabbi.
i agree. cancel the program, and while you are at it, cancel the whole $#@!! public school system!
Uh, where do you get "Protestant"? I'm a Protestant myself but darned if I can find anything in the Constitution forbidding Catholicism. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved," the Bible says, and Catholics believe in Him just as you do.
Ah, the "spiritual" side of the Looney Left!
I suspect that the three legged tripod in the esteemed Dr. Ronald Ferguson's model is important in order to draw distinction from the formerly popular two legged tripod and the extinct four legged tripod....
The School District of South Orange and Maplewood is resolute in its commitment to educational excellence for all of our students. Within the conceptual framework of the Tripod Model, developed by Dr. Ronald Ferguson of Harvard University, the school district provides (1) a thorough curriculum aligned to state standards, (2) opportunities for teachers to expand teaching strategies and (3) cultivation of positive relationships in our schools and classrooms. The three legs of the tripod are interdependent and attention to all three is essential to achieving educational excellence.
Diversity is enjoyable isn't it? The ones I blame for this unhappy state of affairs are so called Christians. I'm not even religious, but the apparent total lack of fight in the so called 'Christian community' makes me sick! I guess they really do not believe in Christ-except maybe in their words.
Give me a break...............Christmas......(Christ)
OHfercryinoutloud.
In the sense that Christmas is a FEDERAL holiday that our government celebrates (no mail service, federal offices closed, banks and stock exchange closed), then by proxy, Hindus and Jews in America celebrate Christmas.
Again, Christmas IS a government holiday! First proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. It's not just for Christians, but for all Americans.
Oooh! Ooh! Ooh! Mista Kotta! I know I know I know!
Why are Christians such pathetic sheep? This is their school, paid with their tax dollars. They ought to be suing this administration for discrimination. After all, it's Jesus's birth that is celebrated on Dec. 25, not Frosty, the Snowman's!
true.
i believe the conquest of peace will bring destruction.
I'm sure bind Laden will get a good laugh out of this. Those who want to censure MUSIC should be exposed for what they are -- extreme bigots who hate relgion with an insane passion.
Maybe a happy, non-offensive, non-denominational Christmas Play, with music and lyrics by New York minimalist composer, Philip Glass!
Sorry, but it was the ACLU who started this "seperation" BS, not Christians or even so-called Christians. This has been allowed to escalate to a point where we, as a Christian nation, are no longer allowed to celebrate OUR heritage, no longer allowed to acknowledge OUR beliefs, no longer allowed to even EXPLAIN why this is wrong. The ACLU has succeeded in removing the basic rules of civil behavior from our schools, and the libs wonder why we got children killing children and children having children. This burns my ass, and NO ONE, NO ONE, has the cajones to stand up to the ACLU and tell them
STFD STFU
What the heck is a "dreidel"?
I blame the Christians for not fighting. I did not state they started the anti-christian attacks.
This borders on the absurd
Actually no, it's how socialism works.
Fifteen years ago, some socialist in the school system
amended or inserted this in the rules and kept their mouth
shut. Like a anti-american mine, it's been lurking just
under the surface, waiting for another socialist administrator to pull it up.
Aren't we tired enough of this PC crap?
Look at how they are indoctrinating YOUR children!
Oh..my bad..
I can remember when we stopped saying the Lord's Prayer before class.
3rd Grade 1959. My third grade teacher had always started the school day with the Lord's Prayer. One day, we didn't say it.
She went right in to teaching. We said, "Mrs.Fritter, we
didn't say the Lord's Prayer." She turned from the blackboard and said, "A woman named Madeline Murray has sued to stop us from saying prayers in school. The judges in Washington said we can't say it anymore" and life moved on. Funny what you can remember.
I don't know why this riles me so much. I know its prophesy coming to pass. It was pre-ordained. I just have a real problem with blatant idiocy.
That's right. It wouldn't sound good with out them.
Unintentional acoustical humor bump!
AFAIK: it's a multi sided(writing on them) pointed Jewish toy(not sure that's the right word) that spins like a top and is only used during the holidays
Nah!No bad. Probably quick reading at the end of day? God go with you!
You just want to make sure the music isn't Christian, rabbi.
i (and many others) have pushed this in my district. i was told that the policy is in place because the schools system does not wish to be sued. they believe they could win the case, but cannot be bothered by the costs of defending themselves in court. it costs money for a lawyer and it takes administrators and teachers away from their responsibilities, hence driving up the cost of an eduction. i refuse to take the next step to file a lawsuit because of the cost.
Which is PRECISELY why the judges are the ones who should be controlling this fraudulent use of the court's time.
When the judges go along with the ACLU lawyers, thats when the issue escalates. We need judges who will look at these lawyers and tell them to get this garbage out of my courtroom and if you ever bring anything like this in here again I will hold you in contempt. It was a series of judges that let the ACLU walk all over the Boy Scouts. The first judge to hear that case should have thrown it out. The first judge to hear the Christmas Carol issue, should have thrown every lawyer in the courtroom even remotely connected to the plantiff's side in jail. When judges fail to recognize stupidity, they themselves have become stupid.
well stated!
you guys are crazy you people have no clue what its like here in maplewood theres just no way to encorperate fairness to all religions and if we did it goes against the constituition. so the only way out of being biast is to remove all religion from our school its not like were just against one religion or anything its just that school is not a place for religion.
Obviously, it's not a place for learning, either, as your spelling and grammar so beautifully illustrate.
we are wild and crazy guys, i do not take it you,re coment personil.
hear are some freinds, they are good ppl, they will say helo and you can be the,yre freinds two.
Kwanza rules!
After reading your very poorly written rant, I can state with a high level of confidence that you should have paid more attention to the educational aspects of your schooling.
Also, major Troll alert....
If I really wanted any s**t out of you, I'd beat it out of you.
Huh?
I was posting to ihateredstates, I thought you'd get a chuckle. Oops.
Why did we bother winning the Cold War only to have the old Soviet Union's policies foisted on us?
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