I do enjoy that carol. :D (I am, of course, the person who has a bad habit of singing "The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen" instead of the proper words to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". You can tell when people are actually listening to me carol, because they tend to give me a surprised look, then a puzzled look, then burst into giggles at the climax of the tune.)
I intend to post about this later on my journal but I have come to the conclusion that children across the board should be taught that no one, ever, under any circumstances, has the same religious beliefs. I know it sounds harsh but if your base assumption is that no one shares your belief than you are automatically politer, more tolerant and more understanding. Its when you start making cliques out of religious beliefs that you end up with jhadists, the Inquisition, and "I've gotta have it my way" bullies like Bill O'Reilly. If every child were taught from the ground up that no two people in the entire world have exactly the same beliefs, which btw is completely true, since no two people have exactly the same brain chemistry or thought processes (even identical twins), then they are also taught a base of tolerance that will eventually drown out the noise from jerks like Mr. Bill. I know, its a very UU ideal, but its worked in UU Congregations for 50 years, and its hard to let a good idea go to waste. And it doesn't preclude
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A certain little someone just finished his Kindergarten holiday project. He was to make a poster about his favorite holiday. When I picked him up from school yesterday, he wanted to show me all of his classmates’ work.
I counted the following posters: 2 Thanksgiving 2 religious Christmas 1 secular Christmas 2 Eid 1 Diwalli 1 Kawanza 1 Nowruz (I’ve never run across that one before, but it is the Zoroastrian/Persian New Year)
His teacher is Muslim, his best friend is Jewish, and I think the girl who did one of the Thanksgiving posters is Greek Orthodox, but I’m not sure.
I have to say “happy holidays” because it would be pure guesswork to try and match the holiday to the kid
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I counted the following posters:
2 Thanksgiving
2 religious Christmas
1 secular Christmas
2 Eid
1 Diwalli
1 Kawanza
1 Nowruz (I’ve never run across that one before, but it is the Zoroastrian/Persian New Year)
His teacher is Muslim, his best friend is Jewish, and I think the girl who did one of the Thanksgiving posters is Greek Orthodox, but I’m not sure.
I have to say “happy holidays” because it would be pure guesswork to try and match the holiday to the kid
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