The Chicago Tribune reports on the Pagan-Wiccan enclave in Oak Lawn, IL:
Residents and school officials in Oak Lawn said they want to unite their community after a tense three-week debate divided some Christians and Muslims.
Late Tuesday night, at the end of a nearly five-hour meeting in a packed room, the Ridgeland School District 122 board voted to keep its Christmas and Halloween parties and to add a Ramadan celebration as well.
The tumult began when a parent strung lights with stars and moons inside one of the elementary schools. A PTA member objected to the decoration, saying that the reference was to Ramadan and that the school didn’t allow religious symbols.
Elizabeth Zahdan, who hung the lights, asked the school board why it would permit Christmas trees and Santa Claus and not allow an acknowledgment of her faith. The school board immediately began considering a ban on all religious referencesâ€â€including the annual Christmas partyâ€â€so as not to offend any group.
That outraged parents whose children revel in the Christmas-themed celebrations, and many attended the meeting to speak in favor of the Christian observances.
Why would a school board permit Christmas trees and Santa Claus and not allow an acknowledgment of her faith? Because the former do not have much of anything to do with the latter, as recognized by everyone from the US Supreme Court to Linus Van Pelt.
But not by folks in Oak Lawn, who kneel before their graven images of Santa and His eight tiny reindeer. And from there, who knows where the submission ends?
I thought tree worship was the fastest growing religion in America. And for what it’s worth, I think the symbols of Islam fit in quite well with other symbols of Dark Age paganism. Tree, moon, Santa, Mohammed, what’s the difference?
The entire concept of freedome of religion as opposed to freedom from religion seems to be lost on some people.
I hope folks in Oak Lawn never have to actually deal with, you know, problems. They seem really challenged. I blame the schools. And tv. But mostly the schools.
It’s time to start collecting charitable organizations that help support, develop and expand private – secular and religious – education, so that when this sort of daffy fecklessness comes up there’s a link where people can channel their frustration into something constructive.
Lost in all this is that Islam holds Jesus in far higher esteem that Judaism does. Christ is considered a prophet by the former, a heretic by the latter.
Now that may be bloody inconvenient for the likes of former AIPAC exec Wolf Blitzer, but it is so.
So why is it that so many Muslims feel the need to blow up the Jooooooooooooooooooooos ?
Jesus can pretty much hold his own, ATS. He’s got mad skillz like that.
Dude, these people are confused about Santa, so there’s a lot being lost there.
Wow, another new troll. I think we’re getting popular.
It’s funny; we’re supposed to be stopping with the blasphemy out of respect for other religions. Has anyone informed the Muslims that their view of Jesus is blasphemy by Christian standards? It’s probably just an oversight on their part, but it might be nice to send them a polite note. Since they’re big on that whole respect thing, they’ll obviously kindly respect us Christians once we’ve pointed out their mistake.
Trees are to Christmas as Skeletons are to All Souls Day. But then if’n you don’t know that, there really is no point to recognizing either. Once again, we do it to ourselves… maybe we should read more.
This is a bit OT, but did you know that if you play Stairway to Heaven backwards, they’re actually singing, “Santa sing in our voices?”
“Because the former do not have much of anything to do with the latter, as recognized by everyone from the US Supreme Court to Linus Van Pelt.”
Thats a great point to be reminding people of as we head into the holiday season.
Yes, the muslims do hold Jesus in higher esteem than do the Jews. But the Jews hold Santa in higher esteem than do the Muslims. We can all disagree about religious beliefs and still get along (unless we’re muslims), but anyone don’t like Santa can go eff himself.
The muzzies are jealous. When they travel they have to figure out which direction to face. Us Santa worshippers just whip out a compass. And the only thing that isn’t halal is coal.
Our hajj is a bit more challenging though.
Hahaha Today’s Rocky Mtn News says some of Colorado’s schools are cancelling Halloween in favor of a “Fall Celebration”… So in effect they want to eliminate a benign celebration characterized by kids in costumes gathering candy & go back to the old ways of Samhain.. and presumably like Wicker Man sacrifices and such… Smooth move…
The pagans/Wiccans just showed up in Oak Lawn?? Isn’t there an Episcopal parish somewhere there?
The Ouroboros – Is Halloween some kind of Christian celebration that must be banned now?
Not that I mind banning Halloween. Were that to be brought to a vote, I would be first in line to get rid of it. I happen to despise the holiday. Too many clowns, midgets, and it generally just brings out teh krazy in people. Like Valentine’s Day, it exists as a holiday only because of the cronyism between BushCo and the candy industry.
No blood for chocolate, eh, JD?
Incorrect. It is NOBLOODFORBUSHCOCHOCOLATE !!!!11! teh suXxor !1!1!1!!!
I just really do not like that day. Why dress up, hide your identity, and go around knocking on doors begging for candy. 90% of the houses give you shit candy, sweetarts, or worst of all, fruit. Every once in a while you come across some homemade cookies, but being a wingnut, one must always be concerned that it is a ruse by some Hamster-ite.
Why go to all of that effort when there are perfectly good bakeries and plenty of stores that will sell you exactly the kind of candy you want, not the kind that nobody wanted, and was purchased on sale just to give away to unsuspecting victims?
I’ve seen the light, JD. Instead of buying candy for Halloween that I would want, I’ll only buy those peanut-butter-flavored nougats that I always hated when I was a kid.
Oh, wait. I buy the kind of candy I want because the neighborhood kids are afraid to come to my door.
And I managed that without giving them crappy candy.
Last year I turned off all of the lights, closed all of the doors, and for a while, even left the house. When I got back, there was a line of kids at my front door demanding candy. I told them that I was going to go with the “trick” rather than dispensing with the treats, but even the fun parts of Halloween are no longer done. I was expecting to get my trees toilet papered, my windows soaped, my yard forked, Carnation insant milk poured all over the yard. Anything would have impressed me. But alas, nothing.
Wow. All I did was put up barbed wire and a sign that read, “DANGER: LAND MINES”
It takes a special kind of detatched or deliberately foolish person to not make the connection between CHRISTMAS decorations and oh, I don’t know, JESUS CHRIST whose birth is celebrated on that day.
That’s like saying Presidents Day isn’t really about presidents because you get a day off.
“Lost in all this is that Islam holds Jesus in far higher esteem that Judaism does.”
Jesus, yes. His followers not so much.
“Jesus, yes. His followers not so much.”
To be fair, those are the ones that cause the problems, not J.
What is your opinion on mile-high balloon fences, andy?
“What is your opinion on mile-high balloon fences, andy?”
Where are we, the blitz?
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