Elementary school students in a Virginia school district came home with an interesting flyer this week: an invitation to a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule. Parents were understandably upset. The difficulty stems from a decision by the 46th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals in Maryland which concludes that if one community organization is allowed to distribute their flyers through the school, all nonprofit community organizations must be given the same access. We can evangelize paganism through our public schools so that the boy scouts can send home information?The reasoning to allow flyers on a wide range of issues was that in the smaller schools, those facilities provide a core for the community, and to eliminate that as a "communication vehicle" could leave children without information about some opportunities they would have, schoolboard chairman Sue Friedman said.This is the natural consequence of allowing the school to become the center of the community.
Fortunately, enough parents raised concern that the policy is supposed to be reanalyzed and adjusted. (Parents do still have some measure of influence in their local school district when they are upset enough to take a stand).
What I find interesting is the symbol at the bottom of the invitation. It is a symbol associated with Wicca and even Satanism. One of my education courses involved classroom management, and one of the things we were advised to watch for was the displaying of certain colors and symbols. The pentagram understandably was among the symbols to watch for, as per the Lawrence police department. An interesting dilemma to face a school district. Should a student come bearing this symbol in any form, he will raise suspicion. Yet the district is sending it home with students in their book bags.
In other Christmas news, second Advent is fast approaching, and it is time again to wage war on Christmas, a battle that has been raging since our earliest settlers. A new blog seems to have taken up the challenge of defending Christmas against the attack. Are they for real? The only reason I ask is that their first post appears December 6th, the same day another blogger suggested a parody site along the same theme. The site is amusing (and even references the blog suggesting the parody). That and the first entry. Maybe I don't get out much, but I'm not accustomed to people defending links in this way:
Some of you may not like the fact that it isn't written from "our" perspective, but I think it gives some good non-biased insight on what it is Conservatives are thinking in regards to this debate.It appears to me a rather condescending manner to speak with one's readers, but perhaps I'm being overly suspicious. It should be interesting, at any rate.
Hat Tip: Education Wonks
Related Tags: Christmas, education, separation of church and state, war on Christmas, holidays
