"When children who attend the McHenry County school gathered in the gym last week to brighten friends and parents with holiday cheer, they sang of lighting candles for Hanukkah, gave their rendition of a Jamaican folk song and even did their lists for Santa.
But their songs never mentioned Christ or the Christmas story--an omission that drew swift criticism from Christian groups pushing public schools to remember the meaning of Christmas.
'The reason for the season is Christmas,' said Dave Smith, senior policy analyst for the Illinois Family Institute, a Christian organization. 'At least some equal time would have been nice.'
Officials at Spring Grove Elementary School said they were just trying to be more inclusive of all holiday traditions and cultures during concerts Wednesday and Thursday nights. Any overlooking of Christ and Christmas was inadvertent, they said."
-- Snip
ACLU gives carols its blessing
The Illinois American Civil Liberties Union applauded Spring Grove's efforts to include different cultures during holiday season celebrations this year.
Christmas songs about Christ are fine at this time of year, spokesman Ed Yohnka said.
"What you don't want is for a parent or anyone to come into a program and feel they spent the past hour at high mass," Yohnka said.
-- I had a buddy who noticed the same thing about his kids Holiday thing last year. The funniest example of this is when my daughter was in pre-school (it is held at a church, but run by a seperate entity) the kids sang their neutral holdiay songs right in front of a huge cross in the scantuary.
I am not asking for a church service or for anything like that, but could we at least pretend my tradition exists as well without living in fear of a lawsuit? Also talking to an attorney about this as a first step is a bit much.
OneMan
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