{"id":3108,"date":"2008-12-20T11:23:42","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T16:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/?p=3108"},"modified":"2008-12-20T15:25:36","modified_gmt":"2008-12-20T20:25:36","slug":"no-christ-isn%e2%80%99t-allowed-in-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/2008\/12\/no-christ-isn%e2%80%99t-allowed-in-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Christ isn\u2019t allowed in Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

95news.com<\/a> | Dec. 20, 2008<\/p>\n

A public school teacher in Mississippi marked down an eleven-year-old\u2019s Christmas poem assignment and told the boy to rewrite it because he used the word \u201cJesus,\u201d which, the instructor explained, is a name not allowed in school.<\/p>\n

Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, reports that sixth-grader Andrew White of Hattiesburg, Miss., chose to write the poem on the assignment \u201cWhat Christmas means to me.\u201d After White turned in his rough draft, however, his teacher circled the word \u201cJesus\u201d and deducted a point from his grade. The teacher then explained that he needed to rewrite the poem without the offending word. <\/p>\n

When White\u2019s parents questioned the teacher, Liberty Counsel reports, they received a response email explaining, \u201c[Andrew] and another child did a poem about Christ. I know we can\u2019t discuss these type [sic] of things in school so I asked the two of them to do another poem of their choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, expressed dismay that despite many legal clarifications on the issue, there are still educationl officials that mistakenly believe students can\u2019t speak of their faith at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome educators need education that the story of Christmas is not banned from public schools,\u201d Staver said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Staver says he was \u201chorrified that a sixth-grader was told by his teacher, \u2018we can\u2019t discuss these types of things in school.\u2019 I don\u2019t understand why some people don\u2019t get it. Christmas is a state and federal holiday. Schools are closed to celebrate this holiday. Obviously, Christmas is constitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

The principal at White\u2019s Thames Elementary School agreed with Staver.<\/p>\n

After White\u2019s parents encouraged Andrew to turn in his first, unedited poem, Principal Carrie Hornsby changed the boy\u2019s grade to a 100 and conceded that there was nothing improper in using Jesus\u2019 name. Hornsby also coordinated a mailing to all the school\u2019s parents, explaining that students\u2019 religious expression is permitted under federal guidelines.<\/p>\n

White\u2019s parents, however, told OneNewsNow that the situation has caused them to consider homeschooling their son, concerned about other challenges to the faith Andrew may be experiencing apart from their knowledge.<\/p>\n

Andrew\u2019s original poem, \u201cA Great Christmas,\u201d reads: \u201cThe best Christmas ever is when everyone is there. It is when everyone is laughing here and there. That is the Christmas I want to share. Christmas is about Jesus\u2019 birth. About peace on Earth. This is what Christmas is about. It is when He lay in a manger. And the three wise men come to see. That\u2019s what it means to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

. . . more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

95news.com | Dec. 20, 2008 A public school teacher in Mississippi marked down an eleven-year-old\u2019s Christmas poem assignment and told the boy to rewrite it because he used the word \u201cJesus,\u201d which, the instructor explained, is a name not allowed in school. Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, reports that sixth-grader … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[103,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-bashing","category-political-correctness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}