← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Okiereddust
Thread ID: 16013 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2004-12-18
2004-12-18 05:23 | User Profile
[URL=http://www.newsok.com/article/1379643/]Daily Oklahoman[/URL]
By Sarah Kahne The Oklahoman
MUSTANG - "No Christ. No Christmas. Know Christ. Know Christmas."
That was the sign held Thursday by a protester outside Mustang High School.
NEWS 9 report
A community's outrage over the elimination of a nativity scene from a fifth-grade Christmas play was displayed in a quiet and reverent protest.
A manger with a baby nestled in the hay was surrounded by Mary, Joseph, a shepherd and wise men played by members of the community just outside the auditorium where Lakehoma Elementary students performed the revised version of their Christmas play.
The participants sang a solemn rendition of "Silent Night" on private property adjacent to the school while parents and students arrived for the play.
Onlookers stopped either because of curiosity or to show support for the protest. Drivers honked to show their support as they drove into the parking lot of the school.
Organizers estimated about 100 people showed up to protest banning the nativity scene from a play that celebrated Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and secular holiday rituals, but ignored the Christian element of Christmas.
Leann Williams protested alongside her two children who attend Lakehoma.
She said she was very upset over the decision to eliminate the nativity scene.
"You can't take Christ out of the season," she said. "If they wanted to eliminate the Christian element, they should have taken out Kwanzaa and Hanukkah."
Rich Schompert, who played the part of a wise man, said he decided to get involved in the grass-roots protest because God is eliminated too much from society.
"We'd have a lot less problems in the world if we had more Jesus," he said.
Parent Jamie Bolton said word of the school's decision spread like wildfire Tuesday, prompting her to hire a lawyer to fight the school's decision.
She said she's hired attorney Brently Olsson and will be filing a lawsuit against the school district.
"I just want to ensure this isn't going to happen again," she said. "If they're going to allow witches (in the play), then they should be able to include Jesus."
School officials said Thursday they stood by their decision to eliminate the nativity scene, citing separation of church and state.
Superintendent Karl Springer said the decision to eliminate the nativity scene from the annual holiday play was based on a legal opinion by the school district's attorney deeming the nativity inappropriate.
He said he appreciated parents wanting the children to be able to participate in a play that promotes the true meaning of Christmas, but unfortunately, a public school was not the appropriate place for such a performance.
Parent Nancy Harris said she couldn't agree with the school's decision.
"We're here because we're Christians and we live in the community," she said. "It's important for our schools to be a direct reflection of the community."
See Also [URL=http://www.newsok.com/article/1380464/]Mustang schools, group to set holiday guidelines [/URL]
By Ken Raymond The Oklahoman
MUSTANG - School officials and a ministers' group have agreed to work together to form new -- and less controversial -- guidelines about holiday celebrations.
The agreement came a day after concerned parents and community members protested Lakehoma Elementary's Christmas performance, forming a living nativity scene across the street from Mustang High School.
A nativity scene had been cut from the school's performance at the recommendation of the school district's attorney.
Friday, the Mustang Ministerial Alliance issued a written statement saying it was "saddened and disappointed that the children of our community have been denied an expression of their religious heritage."
The statement called for "believers in our community to stand up and be counted" and sought the creation of a community action group to "bring organization, education and reason" to discussions about the issue.
Superintendent Karl Springer said he will meet with the ministers' group after the holidays and hopes to have a new policy in place by the end of the school year.
"I look forward to working with them in the formation of the committee they're talking about," Springer said, "and also in the formulation of a district policy ... regarding religious symbols and celebrations so that nothing like this happens in the Mustang School District again."
Controversy erupted when the nativity scene was removed from the annual holiday program, while symbols associated with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were allowed to remain.
At the heart of the issue is the U.S. Supreme Court's complex reading of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion to all Americans, regardless of their faiths. Under court rulings, certain items -- such as Christmas trees and menorahs, or Jewish candelabras -- are acceptable as secular seasonal icons at public schools, while others are not.
"For instance, it may be permissible to have students act out a play which contains one scene where a family is shown opening presents on Christmas morning," according to an online pamphlet [B]from the national Anti-Defamation League. [/B] "However, school sponsorship of a play about the birth of Jesus would be impermissible because such performances are inherently affirmations of a certain religious point of view."
Jim Harris, pastor at Clear Springs Free Will Baptist Church and a member of the ministerial group, said other interpretations of the law seem to make nativity scenes acceptable.
"We do believe that a mistake was made in that they went overboard in throwing out the nativity," Harris said of the school performance. "There are brief references ... to Kwanzaa, to the menorah with the Jewish faith, a few passing references to Christmas, but not much more than that from a Christian perspective."
He said his group is aware of the legal constraints the school district is bound by, but hopes to find a compromise.
Springer agreed.
"These are fine people in this community," he said. "They're concerned, and I understand that. I just wish this could've gone a different way."
See also
[URL=http://www.newsok.com/article/1382896/] Voters angry about Nativity removal help defeat bond issue[/URL]