An Ottawa school recently decided to cancel a Christmas concert in favour of a "non-denominational" February Fest, much to the chagrin of many at the school community. The intent behind the decision was "inclusiveness" for certain minority cultures. A craft night will now replace what could have been a beautiful display of the magnificently joyous sounds and sights of Christmas. Principal Mhairi Rowland of Cambridge Public School, Ottawa explained her decision in the following words:
"As our school community continues to grow, we welcome more families who do not celebrate Christmas. It is our belief that these students deserve the opportunity to take part in the concert experience too."
Lovely sentiments, but do members of various minority faith communities even want a concert of their own?
One must also ask if choral music is part of the cultural heritage of individuals who celebrate Eid, Diwali or Baisakhi? Choral music is traditionally associated with Christmas, but is it also associated with Eid or Diwali? One would imagine not.
Indeed each religious community has its own distinct style of celebrating its religious holidays. The distinctive feature of Christmas is carol singing and choir music among other festivities. It is therefore surprising that Principal Rowland feels compelled to deliver a concert to those who have no tradition of choral music, while denying the opportunity to those who do.
Furthermore, should accommodation of whatever constitutes as non-denominational mean the obliteration of Christian culture? Why can't "inclusiveness" also include Christmas, which signifies peace to all anyway?
Both Christian and non-Christian Canadians welcome the Christmas season each year.
Many secular Canadians and non-believing Christians also celebrate Christmas as part of our Canadian heritage. Non-Christian Canadians know that goodwill is universal, that the spirit of charity and accommodation that pervades Christmas extends far beyond Christian communities. A Christmas concert is simply a beautiful reflection of that ebullient generosity. And while the singing may contain some religious content, songs like "Let It Snow" or "Jingle Bell Rock" can hardly be seen as offending the religious sentiments of minority groups.
Moreover, no one is ever barred from or forced into participating in Christmas festivities or music-making. Cambridge Public School has a small minority of students who do not celebrate Christmas. It seems grossly unfair to deny the majority the right to celebrate its religious and cultural heritage because of a few who don't. Perhaps the minority students can be compensated for their understanding and patience in other ways, but let the school revise its decision of cancelling the concert.
Let Christmas roll! It is truly "the most wonderful time of the year."
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Celebrate Christmas. Go--do it.
And let the kids have a concert in which all can participate.
I'm sorry if I'm not a blind consumer getting trick yet again.
I don't celebrate Christmas because it is a consumer holiday based on lies and religious persecution. So i choose not to celebrate at all. So, if you say 'merry Christmas' to me i may respond 'happy holidays' or 'happy December'. Why must everyone support a christian holiday when there are thousands of different religions and cultures that celebrate during winter.
Now, a public school must incorporate all cultures or it is no longer 'public'. Shutting down a Christmas concert does seem silly but ALL holidays should be equally recognized. This is the kind of selfish thinking that religion brings, 'it's either us or nothing'.
Happy Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and so on.
I know. I went through this hell every year.
Only by making our schools truly secular do we ensure that they can be inclusive places in which ALL students are made to feel that they are part of the community of the school.
This isn't a war on Christmas. Christmas might be the "most wonderful time of the year" for those who celebrate it, and they absolutely should enjoy Christmas within their homes and their churches. The culture or religion of the majority absolutely does not trump minority rights, however. Don't make the season hell for the rest of us by making us feel that we are outsiders -- particularly not in our own public institutions.
The price of free expression is that we cannot use the law to ban the things that we find objectionable or degrading. We must undertake the more difficult task of persuading people to abandon bad ideas through the force of good arguments, rather than forcing them to do so by imposing bad laws.”
Loss of culture is a serious issue, particularly when another culture is being imposed by a public institution. Remember the residential schools? In the twenty-first century, we need to ensure that our schools are not being used to impose a culture, or to elevate one subset of Canadians over any other. Secularizing our schools does not impede those who are culturally Christian from celebrating Christmas in their homes and churches, any more than the fact that our schools do not engage in any official recognition of Ramadan prevents Muslims from observing this cultural celebration as they will. Failing to secularize schools, however, does teach those children who are not part of the Christmas-celebrating culture that their cultural practices are less important or less Canadian than those who embrace the Christmas culture. For a public institution to have this effect is not acceptable.
It really just comes down to you and people with similar views deciding to take offense where no offense should reasonably be found.
Christmas may be celebrated by more than just the Christian community, but it is by no means a universal Canadian tradition. To treat it as one in our public institutions is to belittle the many other cultures represented in Canada, and to implicitly render those who choose not to celebrate Christmas, for religious or cultural reasons, "un-Canadian". This must change.
Yes, they are cultural events and as such should be embraced by all who identify with the Canadian culture. This doesn't mean you have to go to a church or pray or even buy a gift. You just have to enjoy the beauty of the imagination.
Maybe some of these so-called christians should worry less about a tiny school with 200 students in the middle of nowhere and a little more about their own salvation.
Much ado about nothing.
I have noticed that many minority religious groups are reluctant to speak out against instances of state endorsement of majority religious or cultural practices, but then, these groups are often made to feel that they have very little voice in general in our society. Indeed practices like this -- in which we remind them once again that they are minorities, and that we are willing to let the majority religions impose their practices on our public schools at minorities' expense -- contribute to the problem of minorities feeling alienated, and labouring under the belief that Canadian society is not theirs to change for the better.
Secular public institutions are an essential ingredient for an inclusive society.
With that said.
I'm a practicing pagan. I don't believe in a holy trinity, a god in the form of a human, the redemption of Christ, or most of what Christians hold as important.
I should be miffed that Yuletide has been stolen and some false god is celebrated. But why should I? Everyone has the right to celebrate a holiday the way they want. Christmas is an important part of Christianity and as such they should be able to celebrate it instead of the holidays.
I agree. It shouldn't be 'Happy Holidays', it should be 'Merry Christmas'.
Daily.
I am not fond of "Merry Christmas or ELSE!" pronouncements. So glad it is over for another year. Some people get to feeling so entitled at this time of year that it spoils any goodwill caused by the holiday.