President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

"The needs of the many . . . "
[/Spock]

On a more serious note, when I visit another country --- or if I emigrated to another country --- I would not expect people to change routines that are normal for them because of me. I would EXPECT TO BE INCONVENIENCED in certain ways and in certain situations. Even if I became a citizen of said country and had all the "rights" the citizens of that country have. I would still acknowledge that there are probably going to always be cultural differences that I (me, myself) need to accept and just make the best of.

 

I know you weren't entirely serious, but regarding the Spock quote, we aren't talking about a need. They can do the things the public school won't allow at church or at home.

 

Just to clarify on some terminology, the phrase "Christmas pageant" generally implies an actual depiction of the Christmas story (perhaps beginning with the Annunciation, but definitely including the journey to Bethlehem, no room at the inn, the shepherds being given the good news and the arrival of the wise men). In absolutely no public school in America should such a thing be put on.

What I think is actually being referred to (when discussing such things) is one of those sorta-religious, sorta-secularized holiday concerts. Most of the pieces will be Christmas related, but they will vary in their religiosity; we associate "Sleigh Ride" and "Jingle Bells" and "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" with Christmas, but there's absolutely no mention of the holiday in any of them. If everything in the show was like those, there'd be no public school in America where doing such would be a problem.

Of course, it's awfully, awfully hard to come up with a winter holiday show in which nothing touches on or references Christmas. Then you run into the question of what actually is religion (or the promotion of it) in the context of such a show. Are you really doing something religious if you're the cellist performing Bach's Cantata (BWV) 147 (which he named Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring)? If you're part of an orchestra doing Minor Alterations*? I don't think so, but I could see how others could disagree.

I've been to dozens of concerts at my kids' huge and diverse high school. Especially as regards the choir performances, there's an obvious effort at ecumenicism -- there are completely secular pieces, and there are religious/cultural pieces from other faiths/traditions (Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, for example) -- but the heavier weight is on Christmas/Christianity. They also offer an out to anyone who doesn't want to participate in the actual concert (you have to write a small paper or some such thing ... sometimes I wish DaughterQuant would do that, because the choir concerts can be such whippings). I suppose that approach has been vetted legally. Doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it.

Anyway, I offer up this poor mite simply in an attempt to help keep clear what's being talked about.

*If you've never heard it, look it up on YouTube ... it's a really neat piece. It's one of those medleys of Christmas tunes, each re-interpreted in a different (minor) key. It's amazing how different (yet generally recognizable) they sound when done that way.

 

I'm sorry but that's bullshit. First of all, the charter of this country's existence says the government shall not promote or endorse religion. Period. That outweighs stuff that's "normal" for your idea of real Americans. Second of all, not that it should even matter, but your comparison is ridiculous. Many of the people who you say "should expect to be inconvenienced" are NOT immigrants from another country. We are not talking about furr'ners who need to adapt. We're talking about Americans who have been here for generations and happen to be of a different religious faith. I'm Jewish. My most recent ancestor to emigrate here did so in 1920. I'm also every bit as American as any Christian was in my (non-Northeast bubble) hometown. I was one of about 10 Jews (including my 3 siblings) in an elementary school of about 400 kids. And there's absolutely no reason why -- when I was 8 or 9 years old -- I should have had to make the choice between singing "Silent Night," "Away in a Manger" or "O Come All Ye Faithful" in a Christmas program at school or have to stand out like a sore thumb instead. I'm totally cool singing "Jingle Bells" or "Deck the Halls" or "Winter Wonderland" or some other secular song of the season in a winter music program but I'm sorry. If Jesus belonged in a public school -- the Framers would have written the First Amendment differently. Instead, those who would force their religion and holidays on everyone else because they're a regional majority need to accept and make the best the Constitution and enjoy their religion outside of a publicly funded entity where non-Christian kids are still required to be.

And I am not someone who "hates Christmas." I actually enjoy the Christmas season -- the food, the lights, the good cheer and the music. And when people say "Merry Christmas" to me, I say "thank you, and a Merry Christmas to you too." But I do NOT agree with the promotion of religion in a public school and I'm really taken aback by the comparison of Americans of non-Christian faiths to non-Americans.

 

^^^Brilliant.

 

Emigrate from, immigrate to. ... Carry on.


NEXT UP: MUSBERGER / MUSSBURGER / MUSBURGER!

 

Admissions requirement No. 1 for the real-American fan club: Be a Christian, preferably Protestant .... but they'll take a Catholic, if you insist.

 

In which Ahnold teaches Trump how to act presidential ...

 

Was re-reading Dead Solid Perfect last night ... "They's an outside chance that God's a Catholic instead of a fuckin' Baptist!"

 

In 1920, H.L. Mencken wrote of the Republican presidential candidacy of Gen. Leonard Wood, whose supporters ran on a platform of "Americanism": "Every day the evidence shows that to be an American is they define it is to be a poltroon and an ass." Hasn't changed in a century.

 

This is all well and good until you consider that 99 percent of whining about "The War on Christmas" has nothing to do with Santa, and everything to do with Jesus.

 

It's important to remember how much it mattered to Jesus that we remember the Christmas holiday and celebrate his birthday.