Here we are, deep into the holiday season. For many the season is about Christmas, though Hanukkah isn't far behind. It seems that this year more than any other there is a huge debate over how much Christ should enter into the Christmas season. One school in Wisconsin decided to not offend any non-Christians at their school and change the lyrics to the song "Silent Night." Their new version is titled "Cold in the Night."
The controversy began when the father of a student at Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wis., was upset with the lyrics his child brought home to learn. He told the non-profit group Liberty Counsel they are: "Cold in the night, no one in sight, winter winds whirl and bite, how I wish I were happy and warm, safe with my family out of the storm."
The school claims that the lyrics were changed long ago, to fit the school play.
Years ago, I worked at a department store. As a cashier during the holiday season, we were told to wish people "Happy Holidays" and not "Merry Christmas." Various groups of Christians choose to boycott stores who do so, but I support that one. You never know if the person you're dealing with is Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Muslim, or some other religion. So a simple "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" is fine by me. There's no need for the whole world to be Christians or quite frankly Heaven would get awfully full. But this movement to completely remove all Christian elements from Christmas just deeply disturbs me. I would never tell a Jewish person to take their menorah down. I don't know much about Buddism, Islam, or Muslim, but whatever decorations they use for their holidays are perfectly fine with me too. It's their holiday to celebrate as they want. I can avoid their house if it truly offends me. Likewise schools can choose completely secular Christmas songs so as to minimize the Christian influence of the season. But let's not forget that Christmas is a Christian holiday. The origins of it are Christian, and while retailers have commercialized it, it is still a religious holiday. Stop talking about it completely in schools if that's what is necessary to not offend anyone.
