{"id":11942,"date":"2012-12-10T17:29:35","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T22:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=11942"},"modified":"2012-12-11T13:33:13","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T18:33:13","slug":"whos-winning-the-war-on-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/12\/whos-winning-the-war-on-christmas","title":{"rendered":"Who’s winning the war on Christmas?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Los Angeles-area retirement center\u00a0was briefly\u00a0the\u00a0center of the annual war\u00a0against\u00a0Christmas when employees\u00a0tossed out\u00a0a Christmas tree, menorahs and anything else festive,\u00a0declaring them to be prohibited religious symbols.<\/p>\n

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Kids perform a traditional Christmas pageant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile an elementary school banned children from the audience of its Christmas show — put on by children — and a Hawaiian atheist was gleeful that he’s blocked public school children from raising $30,000 for a Christian charity.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0nursing home\u00a0ban provoked a nationwide outcry on\u00a0Twitter and Facebook\u00a0as well as denunciations from politicians and civil rights activists. Two dozen 80-year-old residents received 15 minutes of fame when they gathered in the lobby of The Willows retirement center with a\u00a0hand-lettered sign pleading “please save our tree.” In the glare of TV cameras, the octogenarians asked the nurses to quit behaving like Scrooge.<\/p>\n

“We’re all angry. We want that tree,” Fern Scheel told the Daily News.<\/a><\/em> She has lived at the complex for nearly two years. “Where’s our freedom? This is ridiculous.”<\/p>\n

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Residents were furious over the tree ban<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jewish resident Frances Schaeffer said she couldn’t understand the nursing home’s attitude. “This tree is a symbol of reverence that we can all enjoy regardless of our religious beliefs,” she said.<\/p>\n

Max Greenis who has lived at the complex for a year with his wife, Bonnie, said he was considering withholding his rent in protest.\u00a0 “I’ve got grandkids and they come here and now they’ll ask, `Grandpa, where’s the Christmas tree?’ Then I’ll have to explain that someone said we couldn’t have one. What kind of message is that sending to the kids?”<\/p>\n

“For some folks this is the only Christmas tree they’ll have all season,” resident Robert Troudeau said. “There are people overseas fighting for our freedoms and dying and we’re here fighting over things like this. It’s a shame.”<\/p>\n

Embarrassed, the owners of the retirement complex, the multi-state JB Partners Group Inc., issued a terse statement to the press that the tree’s removal was the result of \u201ca miscommunication,\u201d according to the Sacramento Bee<\/a> <\/em>newspaper. The tree has now been restored.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, England, parents were aghast when the local school banned children from the audience during its annual Christmas pageant, according to the Daily Mail.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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No siblings will be in the pageant audience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a letter to parents, Eldwick Primary School\u2019s head teacher Janice Kershaw decreed that children and babies \u201cwill not be allowed in the concert because any background noise could make it difficult to hear the performers.\u201d She also cited vague \u201cfire regulations\u201d \u2013 although the school has never had to restrict attendance in years past.<\/p>\n

As a result, siblings were barred from watching each other perform traditional holiday music and skits. That infuriated mom Melanie Whitehead \u2013 who called it ridiculous that little sister Scarlett Whitehead and brother Samuel would not get to watch big brother Miles sing carols with his class. She branded the school \u201canti-children.\u201d Likewise, Scarlett and Samuel will also be stopped from enjoying each others’ performances in a later Christmas concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all just doesn\u2019t seem very Christmassy does it?\u201d asked the mom. \u201cJust seems a bit mean. People just want to enjoy Christmas. There is a line you draw and sometimes a teacher or a school thinks they are in charge completely. Children should be allowed in and if they make a noise, the parent can take them out or a teacher can then say take him out. You can\u2019t just take the decision out of their hands, no kids in case they make any noise. Its makes no sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Hawaii, a militant atheist was expressing Grinch-like glee after he successfully blocked the local high school from holding a Christmas benefit expected to raise $30,000.<\/p>\n

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High schoolers blocked from raising $30,000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMoanalua High School students in the award-winning orchestra have proudly raised $200,000 over the last 6 years through their annual holiday concert,\u201d reported the Hawaii Reporter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThese students, who have performed at Carnegie Hall in New York three times, don\u2019t keep the money to buy new instruments, travel abroad or help their school. Instead, they send $30,000 they raise every year overseas to a well-known charity, Mercy Ships, which is currently housing American doctors in Africa on a medical mission. These doctors help the poorest of residents \u2013 some who have never seen a doctor \u2013 with urgent medical and dental needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the students\u2019 gift to the world during the holidays and their chance to make difference for others in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the concert has been cancelled and atheist Mitch Kahle, founder of Hawaii Residents for Separation of Church and State, is proudly taking credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seventh annual fundraiser was set for this weekend, and students have been practicing for months to ensure their performance was perfect,\u201d said the Reporter.<\/a><\/em>\u00a0However Kahle, \u201cwho has shown up to protest city hall Christmas tree lighting ceremonies as well as city council hearings and legislative events where there is prayer, has turned up as their Christmas Grinch and put a stop to the kids\u2019 best-laid plans just hours before the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honolulu talk show host Michael W. Perry lamented what he called \u201can unfortunate situation in which one person writing one letter to the Department of Education has disrupted a $30,000 fundraiser going on for 6 years now, and for what reason? He claims the Constitution says there can be no involvement with school and church and there is no such statement in the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donalyn Dela Cruz, director of Communications for the education department, confirmed the decision to cancel the concert was made after they received Kahle\u2019s letter and consulted the state attorney general’s office.<\/p>\n

Kahle has protested the police department using the words \u201cso help me God\u201d in their oath of office, according to the Reporter,<\/a>\u201d<\/em> and got the Honolulu Police Department to remove the words from the oath in September 2002. On his web site, Kahle proclaims proudly under a cartoon poking fun at the police, that \u2018God Gets the Boot!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it is not a career enhancing move to have your government agency sued, because you stood up to this guy, but someone needs to,\u201d said KSSK\u2019s Perry. \u201cThe DOE is in \u2018duck and cover mode\u2019 because of one guy and one letter. There are all kinds of organizations that would be happy to take him on and win. But he wins because they quickly capitulate. It is infuriating, this one little gnat keeps buzzing around. That one person who just uses threats can get his way and stop something that will really help people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kids singing … a threat to atheists?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nevertheless, the predictably liberal Huffington Post<\/a><\/em> took delight in comedian Jon Stewart\u2019s annual lampooning of any idea that there\u00a0might be any war on Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cStewart’s mockery of it stays fresh year after year,\u201d gushed the Post.<\/em> \u201cOn Monday night’s \u2018The Daily Show,\u2019 Stewart tore apart”\u00a0Fox News’\u00a0“yearly obsession with defending the holiday.\u201d In that segment, Stewart\u00a0claimed the\u00a0Fox staff\u00a0doesn’t “seem as enthusiastic” about reporting on attacks on Christmas as in years past.<\/p>\n

Such\u00a0a report seemed odd since Fox was energetically spotlighting nationwide attacks on the holiday with headlines such as:<\/p>\n