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Enduring favourites such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen are being altered by clergy to make them more "modern and inclusive". But churchgoers say there is no need to change the popular carols and complain that the result is a "festive car crash" if not everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. It comes just a day after a Church of England vicar banned his congregation from singing O Little Town of Bethlehem because he believed its words do not reflect the suffering endured by modern residents of Jesus's birthplace. Another clergyman has...

A school choir was forced to withdraw from a Christmas event because organisers branded its carols 'too religious'. Around 60 children aged between seven and 11 had spent six weeks practising favourites including Once In Royal David's City and Silent Night for the Corringham Winter Festival. But they were let down at the last minute when their headteacher was informed their programme did not 'dovetail' with the festival's theme.

In Christmases past, residents of Kingston House in West York hung a tree with Santa Clauses and decorated a common room with puzzles showing Christ in a manger. School groups and carolers came through the halls singing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and other popular Christian hymns. But things are different this December. At Kingston House and other properties owned by the York Area Development Corporation, songs or decorations in common areas must be secular. The same policy applies to hundreds of tenants in York City's Delphia House and other apartments managed by the development...

Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will feature their first-ever Christmas Carol Concert Friday morning, in partnership with The Salvation Army. Thu, Dec. 06, 2007 Posted: 14:26:58 PM EST Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will feature their first-ever Christmas Carol Concert Friday morning, in partnership with The Salvation Army. The concert will be aired across the country at 9:30 a.m. in all stores and locations of the giant retailer to get shoppers into the spirit of giving this season. A special Christmas message will be given by Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life. "The holiday season is a...

This is in regard to the rules for some people who live in housing units for the elderly. They tell them that outside their own living quarters there may be no mangers, no angels and if there is a tree, it is to be called the Holiday Tree. However, the rules for decorating it are popcorn, cranberries, icicles, snowflakes, etc. That isn't too bad but, Holiday Tree? Now get this; for carollers, they may sing "Frosty the Snowman," "Winter Wonderland" but they may not sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing: or "O Holy Night" or "Away in the Manger." Why...

ANTI-CHRISTMAS FEVER ABOUNDS

Some of this is PG-13. Turn up the speakers. :)

Harry M. Simeone, a conductor and arranger whose choral singers helped popularize Christmas evergreens like "The Little Drummer Boy," died on Tuesday at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 94 and lived on the Upper East Side. The death was announced by his family. Mr. Simeone, who spent a career working for and with headliners like Fred Waring and Bing Crosby, became known on his own in the late 1950's with the Harry Simeone Chorale. Its recordings of Christmas songs sold in the hundreds of thousands and were ubiquitous in homes and public places. The most successful was...

Anti-Defamation League Offers Schools Guidance for Negotiating the 'December Dilemma' Tue Nov 9, 2:39 PM ET To: National Desk and Education Reporter Contact: Myrna Shinbaum, 212-885-7747, Todd Gutnick, 212-885-7755, both of the Anti-Defamation League NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Each December schools and teachers are confronted with the question of how to approach the holidays without favoring one religious faith over another or making some students feel uncomfortable because their religious background is different from others. To help negotiate this "December dilemma," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) provides public schools and government institutions with materials and information on...

    ORIGIN OF "THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS" An Underground CatechismYou're all familiar with the Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" I think. To most it's a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a...

1010 WINS - New York's All News Station | 1010wins.com District Sued Over Christmas Carol Ban Dec 24, 2004 1:33 pm US/Eastern A public interest law firm from Michigan has sued the South Orange-Maplewood school district over its ban on musical performances that make reference to religious symbols or holidays. The Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., which specializes in religious rights cases, filed the suit in U.S. District Court last week on behalf of Michael Stratechuk, a musician and father of two children who attend schools in the district. "What they've done is offended a whole lot...

The Christmas Season and Protestant Carols Meeting the Orthodox Further Q&A on the Orthodox Faith Fr. John Matusiak QUESTION: I converted to Orthodoxy two years ago and, while I do not regret my decision, I have to admit that during the Christmas season, I find myself missing the Protestant church I grew up in and raised my sons in. I feel guilty about this, but truly, there were very good times and many precious memories of those years. We have a small Parish which is predominantly older. I ask myself if this is why I grieve for the past. I...

"Silent Night! Holy Night! All is calm ..." These are the opening words to one of Christendom's most beloved Christmas carols. One wonders if these very words now signify the demise of America's most sacred day of celebration, Christmas, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. Will all of the nights of the Christmas season be driven into silence within the next generation? If the so-called secularists get their way, this will certainly be true. Never before in modern times have attacks against Christmas and Christianity been so intense. In many of our public schools references to Christmas are...

Excerpt: MISS RUGAMYER: Now, children, how can Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer possibly be politically incorrect? CYNTHIA: It shows insensitivity towards people with disabilities. HANK:It mentions the word Christmas. SWEET PEA: And it shows an infringement of Rudolph’s animal rights. MISS RUGAMYER: Francis, how does the song show an infringement of Rudolph’s animal rights? SWEET PEA: Because Rudolph didn’t have a choice when Santa hitched him to the sleigh. MISS RUGAMYER: Class, at this rate, we’re not going to have any songs for our program. Ok…here’s one that I’m sure will not offend anyone. Not even in Brooklyn. Jingle Bells.** Ready?...

Christmas Carol Quiz - Name the carols described in each riddle 1. Oh, member of the round table with missing areas 2. Boulder of the tinkling metal spheres 3. Vehicular homicide was committed on Dad's mom by a precipitous darling 4. Wanted in December: top forward incisors 5. The apartment of two psychiatrists 6. The lad is a diminutive percussionist 7. Sir Lancelot with laryngitis 8. Decorate the entryways 9. Cup-shaped instruments fashioned of a whitish metallic element 10. Oh small Israel urban center 11. Far off in a haybin 12. We are Kong, Lear, and Nat Cole 13. Duodecimal...

Columbia High School, Parker Avenue, Maplewood, NJhttp://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/admin.htm Having heard about the event on the Free Republic I decided to go down and check out the action and participate in the “illegal” rally singing those “illegal” religious songs.  I arrived about 5:00 PM the time it was supposed to start and joined in the crowd, about 100 people, which was already singing Christmas Carols.  We were standing in the middle of the road in front of the school where the police had blocked off the street with barricades and police cars and about 5 police were there for crowd control.  It...

Table of Contents Part 1 Some Bits of History Part 2 Favorite Christmas Carols Some Bits of HistoryPart 1 in the series “Christmas Carol Surprises” Posted at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 19, 2004Okay, I admit it. I love Christmas carols. I love the way they sound. I love the memories they evoke. And, in many cases, I love the truths they celebrate. So in the next few days I’m going to do a short series on Christmas carols. I promise that it will be informative, fun, and maybe a bit inspirational too. Christmas Carol FunDo you like Christmas carols?...

N.J. School Bans Christmas Carols MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) Dec. 8, 2004 — School officials are sticking to their ban on Christmas carols during holiday instrumental concerts despite heavy pressure from residents and outsiders. The South Orange/Maplewood Board of Education voted earlier this fall to ban music with "a religious orientation or focus on religious holidays," Brian F. O'Leary, the school board president, reiterated at a Monday night board meeting. Not many are happy about it. "Now that our two towns are more diverse than ever, it seems to me that (the policy) denies it," said Maplewood resident Shirlee Gross. "Thanks...

Origin of Silent Night IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE, 1816, and the young priest felt a little lonely. In his hands was the Bible. He had been reading the Christmas story from its pages. Now he was thinking of the beautiful city of Salzburg that had been his home. It seemed faraway from this tiny village high in the Austrian Alps. Already the people were on their way to his little church. They were coming from miles around. To help them find their way they carried flaming torches. From his window the priest could see the lights moving across the valley....

A Republican in the blue state of New Jersey is bucking what some decry as a national trend to eradicate all traces of religion in public places. Steve Lonegan, who is running for the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, is defying a school-district edict that bans religious music from holiday-season celebrations this year. Mr. Lonegan has asked local residents of all religions to join him at 5 p.m. tomorrow "to sing and listen to" songs such as George Frederick Handel's "Messiah" and "Silent Night," which have been banned from schools, even in instrumental form, by the South Orange/Maplewood School...

You could say the Maplewood/South Orange School District in New Jersey is trying to take Christ out of Christmas, or at least out of Christmas music. And yes, that's silly. In case you missed the story, Maplewood/South Orange has dropped all Christian religious music from holiday-season celebrations this year. This doesn't just mean the choir can't sing "Adeste Fideles." It means the band can't play an instrumental "Silent Night," which is apparently considered too evocative. It's a bad decision for several reasons, one of them musical. Songs are a wonderful learning device, because they don't feel like school. "Silent Night"...

A New Jersey talk radio host has succeeded in forcing the Egg Harbor Township board of education to reverse its ban on the Christmas classic "Silent Night," which had been dropped from the school district's holiday program based a single parental complaint. Last night's 7-0 vote by the panel means that "Silent Night" can now be included in this week's Holiday Singalong at the E.H. Slaybaugh Elementary School, where the controversy first erupted. The complaining parent, an attorney who has not been publicly identified, asked that the holiday carol be dropped from the program, even though songs about other religious...

Wednesday, December 15, 2004 Boy Scouts raise funds outside ACLUTroop takes annual popcorn sale to Virginia headquarters Posted: December 15, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A Boy Scout troop that routinely sells popcorn prior to the holidays is taking its fund-raiser to the enemy this year as it hawks the treat today in front of the Virginia headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union.According to Tom McKenna, chairman of Troop 828's executive committee, the boys will stake out a spot outside the ACLU office in downtown Richmond, Va., from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. The troop is chartered by...

Boy Scouts raise funds outside ACLU Troop takes annual popcorn sale to Virginia headquarters Posted: December 15, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A Boy Scout troop that routinely sells popcorn prior to the holidays is taking its fund-raiser to the enemy this year as it hawks the treat today in front of the Virginia headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union. According to Tom McKenna, chairman of Troop 828's executive committee, the boys will stake out a spot outside the ACLU office in downtown Richmond, Va., from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. The troop is chartered...

A South Jersey elementary school wants to ban "Silent Night" from its holiday concert, over some parents' objections. Officials at the Slaybaugh School in Egg Harbor Township said that they may not allow kindergarteners to sing the song

The traditional Christmas song "Away in a Manger" says "The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes/But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes." This has always struck me as unlikely—infants cry. But perhaps there is some theological point I have missed. Does anyone here believe that the infant Jesus did not cry?

WBAP down here in Dallas has been playing this song regularly. I think it's a hoot and thought some of you might like to hear the future of Christmas music. Assuming that the link works correctly you'll need Windows Media Player to hear it. http://rope.wbap.com/audio/stubie-christmas.wma

© 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...

School District Critics Plan Nativity Scene, 'Silent Night' Performances MUSTANG, Okla. -- Lakehoma Elementary School's annual Christmas performance was to include a rendition of "Silent Night" on Thursday evening after Mustang school officials reached a compromised in a dispute over Christian religious elements in the program. The decision came after a number of Mustang residents complained and others announced plans to stage a silent protest Thursday night during the evening performance. Superintendent Karl Springer had originally banned a staged nativity scene and the singing of "Silent Night" because of First Amendment concerns. However, during an early performance of the program...

Christmas carols and other kinds of music will again be played on a Gurnee-area school district's buses after a short-lived ban gave new meaning to the "Silent Night" season. At a special meeting Wednesday night, the Woodland School District 50 board told Supt. Dennis Conti to allow radio music on the buses again. The decision brought applause from audience members, who had packed the board room. Some began singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Conti said he was disappointed that the board did not support his ban, which he contended was a matter of safety, not Christmas music. Sandra...

Sponsored by Public Advocate, a bunch of us went down to the ACLU Headquarters in Washington this afternoon to, umm, serenade them with Christmas carols. None of that "Holiday music," either. These were actual Christmas carols, with words like "Christ Our Savior is Born." The ACLU people were incredibly cool about the whole thing — they set up a little table with cookies and coffee for us, and stayed downstairs and joined in the singing.The crowd gathers before we startPlease don't sue us!Interesting Times, on right, can actually singEven ACLU folks join in

EVER been driven up the chimney by a Christmas song that you really, really hate? New Jersey researchers have named the six worst Christmas songs of all time, as picked by holiday-music fans who were asked to rate more than 600 yule tunes. The biggest lump of coal goes to "O Holy Night" as sung by the foul-mouthed Cartman from "South Park," according to Edison Media Research. Close behind are Seymour Swine & the Squealers' butchered "Blue Christmas," "Jingle Bells" by The Singing Dogs and, separately, Barbra Streisand — and "12 Days of Guido Christmas" by the Ha Ya Doin'...

MESA, Ariz. -- Many Arizona public elementary schools' winter concerts don't have children singing about angels, Bethlehem or the little Lord Jesus this year. Instead, it's "Frosty the Snowman," "Sleigh Bells" and "Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas." Teachers say the refocusing of music sung at schools is part of a growing effort to be sensitive to an increasingly diverse student population. Some programs that include Christian music such as "Silent Night" or "Away in a Manger" this holiday season also will typically include songs from other religions in an effort to keep every concert balanced. The legal counsel with the Center...

ROME - 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...

Denver-area churches decided that the official, government-sanctioned secularization of the Christmas holiday had gone too far recently when the city's mayor decided to replace the traditional "Merry Christmas" banner atop the local City and County Building with a "Happy Holidays" greeting and the organizers of the local Christmas parade denied permission for a local church to participate. Christians around the city rose up in protest by descending on the city's annual Christmas parade and sang carols emphasizing the Christian origins of the celebration, as noted in this surprisingly sympathetic account in yesterday's New York Times. "Like a spark in dry...

When a New Jersey high school told it's students they could no longer sing Christmas Carols in school....but Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was still OK....we finally found a topic both Curtis AND Kuby could agree on! WABC's morning hosts both felt what they were doing at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey was a bad idea. The supterintendent said he did not want to offend anybody, so he banned the Christmas carols. WABC's Curtis and Kuby decided to find some schools that still DO sing Christmas Carols. We joined with our partners at Electronics Expo to hold the...

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....

Christmas Songs For The Mentally Disturbed SCHIZOPHRENIA Do you Hear What I Hear? MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER We Three Queens Disoriented Are DEMENTIA I Think I'll Be Home for Christmas NARCISSISTIC Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me MANIC Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and..... PARANOID Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me. PERSONALITY DISORDER You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell you Why. DEPRESSION Silent Anhedonia, Holy Anhedonia, All is Flat,...

Two dozen San Francisco schoolkids sporting white turtlenecks and Santa hats got a very un-Christmaslike civics lesson the other day when they showed up at Union Square hoping to delight Christmas shoppers with holiday carols. "They just wanted to set up next to the Christmas tree and sing,'' said Donna Vargas, one of the parents who escorted the fifth- and sixth-graders from San Francisco Day School on Friday's outing. Instead, they got the boot. Seems they didn't have a city permit -- so after a brief run-in with the park's security, the kids were shooed away. "How can children not...

Bruce Bain doesn't attend church regularly, but nothing was going to keep him from showing up on the corner of 17th Street and Tremont Place on Friday night. "How can you have the Parade of Lights without the 'light of the world'?" he asked. "Christmas is a religious holiday." So the 56-year-old Englewood man joined hundreds of Christmas carolers from metro-area churches and sang along the Parade of Lights route. They sang on 15th Street. They sang at Court Place. And they sang at Colfax Avenue and Bannock Street. What they didn't do was raise hell. Yes, it was a...

My definitive top 10 best Christmas Carols. Feel free to fill in the 11th thru the nth. Cheers Christ Themed 10. Angels We have Heard on High 9. O Come, O Come Emmanuel 8. We three Kings 7. Hark the Herald Angels Sing 6. The First Noel 5. Joy to the World 4. What Child is This 3. Oh Come all Ye Faithful 2. Silent Night 1. Oh Holy Night Non-Religious 10. Silver Bells 9. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 8. Sleigh Ride 7. Deck the Halls 6. Let it Snow 5. Winter Wonderland 4. I Saw Three Ships...

NEW YORK (ASCAP/ www.ascap.com) - The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers today announced an update of its Top 25 most-performed Holiday songs based on the Society's most recent performance data. Topping the list is "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" written by Robert Wells and the singing great, Mel Torme.

Upset with what they see as a relentless attack on the Boy Scouts, a group plans to sing religious and satirical Christmas carols in front of the Washington, D.C., office of the American Civil Liberties Union. Volunteers with Public Advocate of the United States say the event Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. will "highlight the ACLU's continuing disregard for the rights of the young men in the Boy Scouts to maintain their morally straight principles." As WorldNetDaily reported, the Pentagon will warn its bases not to sponsor Boy Scout troops after agreeing to settle an issue in a five-year-old lawsuit brought...

THE Adelaide City Council has been labelled a "scrooge" for charging a choir almost $300 to sing Christmas carols for free in Rundle Mall. For five years, the Gospel Carol Choir has sung Christmas carols for shoppers in the Mall during December. But this year, the choir of about 50 singers has been told they will have to pay to volunteer their services. In an attempt to stop a boycott by the choir, The Advertiser has agreed to fund their performance, believed to be about $270 for half a day, with the choir seeking an application form yesterday. "Each year...

A Christmas Carol for Any Psychosis! Schizophrenia - Do You Hear What I Hear? Multiple Personality - We Three Queens Disoriented Are. Dementia - I Think I'll Be Home For Christmas. Narcissistic - Hark The Herald Angels Sing (About Me) Mania - Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and            Stores and Office and Town ... Paranoia - Santa Claus is Coming To Town (To Get Me). Personality Disorder - You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm                                 Gonna Pout, then MAYBE I'll tell you why. Depression - Silent anhedonia, Holy anhedonia. All is calm,                     ...

Merry Christmas to All. What's your favorite Christmas Carol and why?