Still Fighting For ChristmasMarch
came in like a lion in York County, Virginia. Like Aslan, the lion of Narnia,
Christians are pushing back against the cultural cleansing of Christianity.
Over eighty citizens went to the York County School Board meeting, in the
same Yorktown where the American Revolution was won, and spoke up for their
freedoms. Several freedoms are at stake when Christianity is suppressed.
The problem in the public schools of this suburban county of 70,000 surfaced
in October when some class parents found that Christmas was banned. Not all
the schools, just some of them. But, in those schools the ban was total. No
sacred, no secular, nothing traditional, or historical about Christmas.
Nothing. The parents kept asking the teachers and administrators for an
answer on why – who was ordering this? They heard ambiguous answers and got
nothing in writing. Christmas came and went and the children learned about
anything but Christmas.
Twelve speakers rose to explain the problem and offer a solution. The School
Division doesn’t have a written policy. The citizens asked for a written
policy from the elected School Board to give to the hired educrats of the
School Division.
The School Division Superintendent professed surprise. Several School Board
members said surely this can’t be so. Other School Board members said they
would investigate. As expected, they deferred to the Superintendent. But,
The People won’t let it stay there. They are going to keep pushing to get a
written policy or they’ll elect a new School Board. Ya gotta love
representative democracy.
The local newspapers covered the story. Predictably, they editorialized a
bit of concern. Oh no, look out for lurking theocracy! When, actually, the
schools should do what they been doing for as long as there have been public
schools – and recognize all holidays.
Every argument the Liberal human secularists scam for the tolerance of
intolerance against Christianity – and Christmas - was presented and
demolished. The guidelines for what to do came straight from the U.S.
Department of Education. These 1998 guidelines have held up in the courts.
(It’s a sad commentary that guidelines originate in the Federal Executive
branch and be validated by the Federal Judicial branch. Where are the
legislatures and the States?)
Moreover, the Virginia Standards of Learning – our education accountability
– call for students to know the traditional holidays and how they unite
Virginians. Nothing unites like Christmas where 95% of the population (in an
86% Christian country) celebrates Christmas. The children must learn the
history and traditions of Virginia and America to know what it means to be a
Virginian and an American. Since 1607, December 25th has been celebrated as
Christmas.
The name of the official holiday for the U.S. and the Commonwealth of
Virginia is ‘Christmas’. Acknowledging the secular and religious symbols,
songs, and traditions is an exercise in history, not theocracy. Such a
distinction is lost on Pagan Puritans. The historical truth is an insult to
the Multi-Culturalists and their myths.
Yet, the way forward is to be resolute, like a lion. As the speakers in York
said plainly, the state’s education isn’t a church exercise and they don’t
want public schools to teach religion. Confusing the two – church and state
– is willful malevolence or utter ignorance. Given the unchurched condition
of most Liberals and the sissy Christian confusion of some Liberals, it’s
more likely that their mistakes come from the absence of their knowing God,
the Bible, religion and history – not necessarily in that order.
Consequently, Christian citizens need to educate in lovingkindness as much
as play hardball politics with politicians. Celebrating Christmas in schools
is an exercise in ‘E Pluribus Unum’, not in exclusion. Minorities learn to
tolerate the majority. Virginia’s Constitution uses the words ‘Christian
tolerance’ of other religions for a reason. Precisely because the U.S. is a
Post-Great Awakenings, Post-Enlightenment, Post-Reformation Judeo-Christian
culture, our American Civilization and the Nation built upon it provide the
greatest religious freedom in the World.
Freedoms for the free exercise of speech, religion and against the
establishment of a Federal official church sect protect individuals from
state abuse. These are freedoms threatened by culturally cleansing Christmas
from government schools. One mother spoke how her child was told he couldn’t
say ‘Merry Christmas’. The family had a discussion to correct his
impression. Yet, later she saw him snicker when he was reading a book,
because reading ‘Christmas’ was like reading a forbidden, naughty word.
That’s anti-Christian thought poisoning young minds. The lion hearts of
Virginia will stop this. How about your schools?
James Atticus Bowden
