Vatican Joins the Christmas Fray

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ROME (Reuters) - An Italian school’s substitution of a Nativity play with Little Red Riding Hood so as not to offend Muslim children has raised the Vatican’s ire and sparked debate on how much traditions should change to accommodate immigrants.

The episode was the latest in a series in recent weeks which made headlines as overwhelmingly Catholic Italy comes to grips with an ever-growing Muslim population which some see as a blessing for the economy and others as a threat.

Pope John Paul, in a message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants, weighed in indirectly, saying Christians had to respect cultural differences but had to proclaim the gospel and defend traditions.

Last week, a public elementary school in the northern city of Treviso decided that Little Red Riding Hood would be this year’s Christmas play instead of the Christmas story.

The teachers said the famous tale was a fitting representation of the struggle between good and evil and would not offend Muslim children. The school’s traditional nativity scene was scrapped for the same reason.

In another school near Milan, the word “Jesus” was removed from a Christmas hymn and substituted with the word “virtue.” In Vicenza province an annual contest for the best Nativity scene in schools was canceled.

reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=industryNews&storyID=7042203
 
This is becomming a plague! The world is going bonkers…It makes me sick…any suggestions of what we can do about it?
 
Bob Baran:
This is becomming a plague! The world is going bonkers…It makes me sick…any suggestions of what we can do about it?
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My kid’s school has a nice take on it. They encourage all the children to tell everyone what their family does and believes. They also cover the “big” traditions themselves. For instance, even if there are no Jews in the class, they tell the kids what a menorrah is and how hanukkah is celebrated. They feel it is part of a rounded education to understand fully the traditions and beliefs of others and to have the ability to listen with respect whether you agree or not. Although everyone is encouraged to participate and at least hear the traditions discussed, anyone who is uncomfortable is respectfully given permission to exclude themselves from what they find offensive. The school has a party before Halloween called the Fall Festival. Some kids do the Halloween thing, some don’t dress up but do come to the party for the harvest-themed parts, and some occupy themselves with a different activity during the party. Parents are invited.

Of course, to do this you have to be able to tolerate someone else telling your kids what they believe. For some, that’s a rub. For me, it is a chance for me to give our children our family’s take on what they will someday encounter, anyway.
 
Bob Baran:
This is becomming a plague! The world is going bonkers…It makes me sick…any suggestions of what we can do about it?
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After hearing the pablum that Macy’s put out trying to CYA - the first thing to do is to boycott for shopping those stores that give in or make inane statements like this - I think contacting your local represenatives would also help. City halls are “sensitive” to these kind of complaints and count as a general rule every one call as representing 10 citizens.

As Catholics we should encourage outdoor displays of Nativity scenes, Christmas parades with the correct symbols and music that says it’s Christmas in its truest sense.

If your child’s school starts calling it Winter Celebration - let them know from the top down, you ain’t a happy camper. We have a local lawsuit pending here: parents are divorced. Dad went to the school to inquire if there ws a Christmas program planned again this year - he was stared at and frostily told that it’s the Holiday Celebration and not to refer to it as Christmas. He has retained an attorney seeking revocation of custodial rights due to his child being deprived of his heritage as a Christian because the wife won’t complain nor change schools. He won’t win custody but the school is named in the suit and they are going to have to defend their position - from the news I heard today our local radio provided a toll free line for citizens of Cupertino California to call in and give their opinion on the suit pending there by the teacher and the documents from the Founding Fathers. Every call they took, said they are so glad for the suit - they are sick of the annual fight to try and have “Christmas”. If enough communities do what they can - we WILL change this entire direction.

And Christians had better get used to it – we have been far too complacent - as O’Reilly pointed out it’s about more than Christmas it’s about trying to desecularize every corner of society.
The would be social reformers know its too late to get us, but they seek our children and grandchildren, to neutralize their experience of cultural Christianity. As we can see from history, if people won’t worship the God of their faith, they’ll worship something else indeed.

And immigration in Europe has brought in many problems they never foresaw or anticipated. They’re going to have to straighten themselves out but what can you say to a continent who refuses to acknowledge their own Christian roots for fear they might offend their trading partners and their new residents.

I am beginning to think the Pope ought to perform a general exorcism for the entire Christian body of believers as a Christmas gift. It couldn’t hoit.
 
Do Muslims in Saudi Arabia worry about offending Christians? Do Hindus in India worry about offending Christians? Why are Christians the only people who worry about offending another religion? All this tollerance trash is having the reverse effect on me, I find myself being more and more up front militant about my Catholicism.
 
Bob Baran:
This is becomming a plague! The world is going bonkers…It makes me sick…any suggestions of what we can do about it?
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Put on your own plays, concerts, pageants. Why expect someone else to do it for you?
 
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Lance:
Do Muslims in Saudi Arabia worry about offending Christians? Do Hindus in India worry about offending Christians? Why are Christians the only people who worry about offending another religion? All this tollerance trash is having the reverse effect on me, I find myself being more and more up front militant about my Catholicism.
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I’m waiting for the two way street to accomodate Christians - so far, I see nothing coming in.
 
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Lance:
Do Muslims in Saudi Arabia worry about offending Christians? Do Hindus in India worry about offending Christians? Why are Christians the only people who worry about offending another religion? All this tollerance trash is having the reverse effect on me, I find myself being more and more up front militant about my Catholicism.
Click to expand...
Actually, it is not even that Christians started the worrying about offending another religion. That was strictly an American phenomenon–that got exported abroad when other nations became more mixed. But diverse societies is a relatively recent occurrence in such places as England (since the 1960s when citizens of Britain’s former colonies started coming to London), in France (since perhaps the 1950s same situation as England), Germany in the 1970s when the Turkish “Gastarbeiters” came to do menial jobs, and Italy in the 1990s as Africans, Middle Easterners, and former East Bloc nationals came as refugees. So the whole concept of diversity and tolerance really started in the good old US of A. And like all good things, it has been taken to its logical extreme, and that’s how we got where we are today.
 
Well another sample of politically correctness, in my country there are a school that don´t sing christmas song not to offend the people non-believer because the laicism.
All this is CHIRSTIANFOBIA
 
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Franze:
Well another sample of politically correctness, in my country there are a school that don´t sing christmas song not to offend the people non-believer because the laicism.
All this is CHIRSTIANFOBIA
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It’s a disease that has spread like a virus.
 
We have to push the buck some. We have let this PC become a prison and gag for Christians. Not only should we put cribs in our yards for the Advent and Christmas, We should put Christian message or symbols in our yards year round.It has been more and more obvious that it is getting worse and if we don’t do something we will end up like France.God Bless:banghead:
 
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HagiaSophia:
Pope John Paul, in a message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants, weighed in indirectly, saying Christians had to respect cultural differences but had to proclaim the gospel and defend traditions.
Click to expand...
This is very interesting, How come the fair and objective media isn’t reporting this?. Why? Because the media is part of the problem! I agree, we need to boycott. We should not shop anywhere that doesn’t display 'Merry Christmas". Retailers and government don’t want the celebration of Christs birth, but they want the money.
 
My seven year old daughter told me they learned about ramadan on Monday. There’s a muslim boy in her class and his mother came in and taught them about ramadan. I told her to tell her teacher I would like to come in and teach them about Christmas.
 
We should all reread the letters of John in the Bible.

Our “pubic” schools are nothing more than indoctrination centers for secularism, radical tolerance, and perversity.
 
I thought that Muslims recognized Jesus as a prophet, and even respected the perpetual virginity of Mary. If it is a part of their religion, then why would they be offended by Christmas? I mean, they could scale it down a little by not proclaiming the son of God was born, they could meet halfway to make most ppl happy.
 
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StratusRose:
I thought that Muslims recognized Jesus as a prophet, and even respected the perpetual virginity of Mary. If it is a part of their religion, then why would they be offended by Christmas? I mean, they could scale it down a little by not proclaiming the son of God was born, they could meet halfway to make most ppl happy.
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Pepople being offened is just a smoke screen. The real motive is to put the state first and eliminate a faith that calls people to a certain moral standard. A progressive agenda can not prevail as long as people believe in the sanctity of life, oppose gay marriage…etc.
 
Michael C:
My seven year old daughter told me they learned about ramadan on Monday. There’s a muslim boy in her class and his mother came in and taught them about ramadan. I told her to tell her teacher I would like to come in and teach them about Christmas.
Click to expand...
 
Michael C:
My seven year old daughter told me they learned about ramadan on Monday. There’s a muslim boy in her class and his mother came in and taught them about ramadan. I told her to tell her teacher I would like to come in and teach them about Christmas.
Click to expand...
Fat chance. Let us know if it actually happens, or if it does, you have to be “vetted” first.
 
Excellent,idea, in fact I think you should insist on it, If you are refused call Bill Donahue. We should refuse to be outed and allow ourselves to be the only group that is silenced.God Bless
 
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