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Ok, thank you. Protestants have declined from 53% to 48% in USA I will accept that. Since this is a USA event Im not interested in the global make up. Now what Im more interested in is proof the religious majority honors/celebrates Saint Nicholas and is a key figure in their faith, religion and holidays. Because this has not been my experience, but then again I have always lived in a Protestant majority area.
Unlike Protestants, Roman Catholics and the various branches that together make up Eastern Orthodoxy both venerate saints (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneration). In fact, Catholics have a specific day set aside just to venerate all of the Church's saints, a day on which attendance at Mass is obligatory: All Saints' Day (which conveniently falls on Halloween, another one of those bits of syncreatism the early church excelled at). A basic Catholic education generally includes instruction about many of the most famous saints in addition to basic theology, and some especially devout Catholics will also attend mass on the feast days of individual saints whose lives have a special meaning to them.
So any Catholic who's had a decent religious education indeed knows about Saint Nicholas, and (by virtue of his sainthood) regards him as an important religious figure, even in his modern guise as Santa Claus. The lines about about Good King Wenceslas going out on the Feast of Stephen aren't just lines in a Christmas carol to educated Catholics, either, as both Wenceslas and Stephen are also famous saints (and actual people, not mythic figures).
I am consistent, it's just that you seem to be either unable or unwilling to understand a simple Constitutional concept - a Government institution should not be sponsoring religion. Sports are not religion.
Again, we then need to remove all Christmas symbols and paid holidays from ALL government institutions and government funded institutions. This would include the White House Christmas tree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74
Kwanzaa is a cultural event, not a religious one. So no Constitutional issue.
And Santa Claus is a cultural event, not a religious one.
WRONG....BACK UP....in the Santa example, it was a single day field trip....so let's use the apples to apples comparison....if I chose to live in a predominantly black neighborhood and if they were planning a Kwanza Field trip for a day and I didn't want my child to go....I would absolutely have no issue of keeping my child home for the day. As opposed to raising a stink and making the school cancel the trip
Nope, read the original linked article and the one linked within it.
Quote:
“We can’t spend five days on just one culture. That’s fostering intolerance. When Christmas is given the same time, or less time, than American holidays, like Veterans Day, then kids don’t feel as American.”
Talia, a certified California teacher herself who requested her last name not be used, says she didn’t like the fact that one religion, Christianity, was the focus of most of the December teachings in school. Specifically, she didn’t like her daughter writing letters to the North Pole for two days in a row, dressing up as reindeer, and a big annual field trip to the local coffee shop where the kids sit on Santa’s lap and ask for presents.
Again, we then need to remove all Christmas symbols and paid holidays from ALL government institutions and government funded institutions. This would include the White House Christmas tree.
And Santa Claus is a cultural event, not a religious one.
Christmas is not a "cultural event."
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