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Celtic Woman / Chloe Agnew - "O Holy Night"

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....