Sitting Out the Christmas Songs and other Pagan News of Note
Top Story: The Amarillo Globe-News reports on a freshman choir member who is sitting out two Christian-specific songs at her school’s Christmas concert, and the church-state issues concerning religious songs being sung at secular schools.
“Fifteen-year-old Katarina Keen won’t sing along to “Silent Night” or “Listen to the Stars,” two Christian songs planned for her choir’s upcoming Christmas concert at Borger High School. But she will sing “Jingle Bells” and “A Carol in Winter.” Katarina and her family are Wiccan. The Borger High choirs have given a concert every December, with traditional religious Christmas songs, but this is the first time in director Johnny Miller’s 23-year career that any Borger student had issues with the religious themes in the music, he said … “We’re doing our best to accommodate everyone’s wishes,” Miller said. “It’s just difficult, because it’s a complete 180 of what I have always done.” … The Keens also have raised concerns this year about prayers in class and a prayer board posted in the choir room.”
The officials at the school seem to be chafing at having to actually make accommodations for non-Christian students, saying they “bent over backwards to be cooperative”, though I don’t see how allowing a student to sit out two songs and inserting some more secular holiday songs can be construed as bending over backwards. As for Christian prayers before class, and a “prayer board” in the choir room, they refuse to stop them because they are a “student-led activity”. Student-led perhaps, but allowed by school officials, and would no doubt be stopped if other non-Christian religions wanted the same consideration.
In Other News: Kris Bradley, from the Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom blog, has posted to her Examiner.com account regarding whether UK celebrity chef Nigella Lawson is Pagan (or at least Pagan-friendly).
“In Nigella Christmas: Food Family Friends Festivities, Nigella Lawson makes multiple references to Pagan ideals, traditions and history. In the introduction to the book, she speaks about how Christ’s birth actually happened 6 months earlier, on Passover. She also touches on the subject of Saturnalia and the rebirth of the sun being linked to the birth of Christ. She goes as far to say “But my greatest love, my deepest feelings, are for the pagan rituals that underpin the contemporary Christmas. In fact, I’d go further and say that my approach to the festival is ultimately pagan.” In another part of the introduction, Lawson describes Christmas as “not just a time when the Domestic Goddess comes into her own but a moment to conjure up the Domestic Druid as well.” She comes back to the subject of Paganism later in the recipe section when discussing her Yule Log, saying that the cake is a “cake-emulation” of the log that Norsemen would burn “in celebration of the winter solstice and to honor the gods”.”
Lawson seems to duck Pagan accusations, saying she “adhere[s] to the Judeo-Christian morality”, and direct questions regarding her religious beliefs on her web site have been removed by the administrator. So, Pagan? Pagan-friendly? None of the above? It remains an open question. For more on Nigella, who seems to be something of a cooking sex-symbol in the UK, you can check out her official web site.
Brand X magazine offers a profile of Santeria, including the reporter receiving a traditional spirit cleansing from a Santero.
“At this point, he addressed the recipient of the limpia, in this case, the reporter writing this story. “Tell Elegguá what you want,” he commanded. “Beg your pardon?” “Tell Elegguá,” he repeated. “Tell him what you need.” “Um, I want to be a good writer. I want to be healthy. I want my mother to be happy.” The santero knelt down, shaking the cowrie shells in his hands, and chanted in Lucumí — a mixture of Spanish and Yoruba, a Nigerian dialect. He released the shells in a spray across the floor and examined them closely. Apparently satisfied with the instructions he’d received from the spirits, he turned his attention to the softly clucking bag in the corner of the room.”
The article also tries to estimate how many adherents to Santeria there are, though I think Ernesto Pichardo’s estimate of 5 million in America alone is something of stretch (maybe 5 million in the “Americas” collectively). In any case, it’s a fairly decent article, talking with experts, other reporters, and adherents about the faith. Now if only the mainstream press can do as well as pop-culture magazines we might get somewhere.
Now for a bit of new-media talk, the Financial Times has an article about MySpace’s downward spiral. The once-dominant social networking site, once touted as the future of music and media on the web, is now losing its luster, hip cache, and millions of users to sites like Facebook.
“…by the beginning of 2008, things began to sour. Facebook, a rival social network that was simpler and easier to use, was gaining momentum and starting to grow more quickly than MySpace. Murdoch confidently told the world that MySpace would make $1bn in advertising revenues in 2008 – but the company missed its target. Users began to desert the site, which had become cluttered with unappealing ads for teeth straightening and weight-loss products … Since then, MySpace has shed 40 per cent of its staff, closed many of its international offices and publicly given up trying to match Facebook in the race to become the world’s biggest social network. (MySpace has more than 100 million regular users, Facebook more than 300 million.) A move by MySpace and other News Corp digital businesses into the biggest new office development in Los Angeles was scrapped – after the $350m, 12-year lease had been signed – leaving the company paying more than $1m a month for an empty building. The number of people using the site has also dropped precipitously this year: MySpace’s share of the social networking market has tumbled from 66 per cent a year ago to 30 per cent, according to the online research company Hitwise. The situation is so dire that MySpace recently revealed that it had failed to attract enough online traffic to meet targets set in its advertising deal with Google and as a result would lose $100m this year. An acquisition that had initially covered Murdoch in glory and offered so much promise was becoming an embarrassment to the News Corp chairman and a liability for his company.”
As for folks who do use MySpace (like me), they’ll have noticed that they have rolled out many Facebook-like features trying to recapture some of what they’ve lost. However, I don’t think it will work. The site is too ugly, slow-loading, and teen-focused to ever really compete with the multi-generational and (by comparison) simpler Facebook. So what? Why am I mentioning this here? Because, many Pagan entrepreneurs/organizers have emulated the MySpace model. This includes Covenspace, PaganSpace.net, and PaganSpace.com (this doesn’t even get into the dozens of Pagan Ning sites).
While I’m a big believer in Pagans creating their own resources, I do wonder if Pagan-focused social networking sites are any better than the Christian-focused networking sites that many of us like to poke fun at. Also, no offense to the Pagan social sites, but when I think of promoting a new project, like Pagans at the Parliament, I don’t immediately think of going to a Pagan MySpace clone to promote it. I think of Facebook, or Twitter, both of which seem to have much larger and active Pagan populations than any Pagan-run start-up. I think the first rule of creating a Pagan resource is finding a place where there is a need and then filling it. Do we have a need for a Pagan MySpace? Especially when it seems increasingly likely that people don’t have much use for the original MySpace?
In a final note, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada talks about religion in comic books, why pagan myths work so well in comics, while the Christian god/devil doesn’t.
“…the gods of mythology lend themselves more to the superhero genre. They’re much more colorful, they are imperfect and their exploits were really more akin to the exploits we’ve seen done by heroes like those within the Marvel U. All the classic heroes we see in many ways share many traits with the gods of mythology, so it’s an easier transition. Also, in most monotheistic religions, you’re dealing with an all powerful and infallible deity, which, from a dramatic storytelling point of view, really handcuffs you because of their perfection and ability to solve problems as they desire. And there is the sensitivity issue. These are religions that are practiced by the majority of the planet, regardless of where you fall, whereas the gods of mythology are not. I think it’s a sensitive issue, but more than anything, it’s just that the construct of the mythological gods makes for better dramatic storytelling within the pages of a comic book.”
While I agree that pagan myths make great story fodder, I do question his note about “sensitivity”. He does know that millions of people around the globe do indeed worship pre-Christian gods and goddesses doesn’t he? I mean, this is the company that named a super-hero “Wiccan” (he’s the son of the Scarlet Witch), so they must have some inkling.
That’s all I have for now, have a great day!
34 responses so far
My son was in his school's chorus in middle school. I expect he would have been in chorus in high school, had we not started homeschooling for non-religious reasons. The chorus sang pretty much ONLY 'Christian music'. Why? Simply because Back, Verdi, etc, wrote such EXCELLENT MUSIC.
Give me "Sheep may Safely Graze" or Verdi's "Requiem". Or "Iasu, Joy of Man's Desire". Take way 'The Dreidle Song" and "Jingle Bells". Have choir's sing GOOD MUSIC, and focus on THAT and THAT ALONE.
In a related note, I re-worked "Oh Tannenbaum" as "Oh, Our Skadi" earlier today. It's still not good music – I"m not fond of the original music – but, dang, everyone in a coven will know it.
Is 'everyone knows the tune' what we want in any concert, or do we want the best music available?
Frondly, Fern
On the PaganSpace.net issue and the various developing social networks. Facebook is also a site while very powerful that will someday go the way of Live Journal, Theme stream, and now Myspace. I actually find Facebook to be overly gamey myself even though I use it. I also use myspace, twitter, digg, yahoo and google groups and a number of social media outlets, and a few upcoming ones. Believe me, in a few more years, none of these services will look the same.
Witch School added a social media site for NING, to it's overall educational site, and as a way to hub all the different parts and we were well rewarded for it in terms of traffic and control.
For Paganspace.net, they have done a great job of this, and for their efforts they are the third most trafficked pagan site in the world, following Llewellyn and Witch School. They are definitely out weighing trafficwise Witchvox.com. While they may not seem a winning model they defintiely are, and they are providing a service to the community Facebook can not or will not. They are supporting local and Pagan based businesses with traffic, in a way facebook can not. When you combine these efforts with these new systems, and systems that yet have not emerged, you get large amounts of traffic.
These new social networks also let you reach new countries and areas. Witch School for example is launching several new social sites based on NING based on Languages, we have begun with Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese in order to service our growing community.
As for Pagans at the Parliament Project, it was promoted through as your phrase it a Pagan Myspace clone as well, as I posted and cross posted articles I wrote for it. This got a much bigger media footprint, and comments from WitchSchool.com Social Media Outlet, and Paganspace as well. They were better than using Witchvox.com.
The one thing I really like about the NING platform being used, is that it ties directly back into Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Digg, and Stumbleupon. They have a button that lets every piece of the site be shared, as well as generating automatic RSS feeds. It is more than a Facebook Clone or a Myspace Clone, it is a hub that lets you pull together these different social aspects and control far more content in a social site.
So for the efforts, WitchSchool and PaganSpace represent 2 & 3 most trafficked Pagan sites. They are going to continue to wield a huge influence in the community, and they will also become sources of information into the future, while not at all surrendering or diminishing our Facebook and Myspace presence (or even Live Journal). It is not a either/or but all out effort on multiple platforms.
I can't speak for Nigella Lawson, but when I was growing up in the UK, it was widely understood that pre-Christian beliefs underpinned our modern religious festivals and it was assumed (sometimes erroneously, as in the case of Morris dancing) that many of our continuing cultural activities had pagan roots. It's also not uncommon to hear people saying they've a pagan attitude to festivities, etc. Younger people are more likely to understand "pagan" as referencing modern Paganism. In my mid-sized semi-rural town, most people would just think of it as free-spirited and Romantic (as opposed to Hallmark card "romantic"). Many towns continue traditions that may be ancient or may be the result of 19th century enthusiasm for supposed ancient practices. In Chester every year, there's a massive summer and wonter solstice fair and parade with its roots in the 15th century guild system, and at the winter solstice Roman re-enactors process through the town by flaming torchlight to wish everyone a happy Saturnalia, for example. In my area, there are May Day parades led by the local parish churches (thank goodness for them and their preservation of so many traditions) and including maypole dancing, Morris dancing, and fairs. We have plough blessings, rush bearing festivals, and souling/mumming troops in this area, and the public bonfire on 5th November's a sight to behold.
So someone from the UK making references to our pagan past and saying their attitude to feasts is basically pagan could conceivably be a declaration of Pagan-friendliness. But it's not likely to be so.
wonter?? winter.
Every year, our children must undergo the same thing, explaining to the music directors that no, we aren't going to sing the Xian carols, play the Xian music, for their winter holiday concerts. I don't care what all the other children do — that is between them, their parents, and their Gods. We don't have the right to "prohibit free exercise" of religion for them. But they do not have the right to "establish" religion for us, either; ie, demand or bully our kids into singing or playing Xian music. To make a statement, whether it be verbalizing or in song, is an invocation. Drumming or playing and instrument can be an act of magick. Summoning a state of being into manifestation. And I don't really want to invoke Jesus as king of the world, declare that he rules the world, or concede that God and sinners must be reconciled… nor do I wish to proclaim myself a wretch in need of salvation. This is not what I'm attempting to teach my children. Yet I do demand that they respect others' rights, and not prohibit their classmates from singing their own music for their holy day.
Choral music presents kind of a problem because the tradition evolved so much from Christian religious music that, like FernWise said above, a lot of the good stuff is Christian in nature. It is possible to sing good, secular winter-themed classical choral music, but there's not a lot of variety in it. For non-holiday concerts you can break out the Romantic part-songs (many of which are nature-oriented and very pagan-friendly), madrigals, opera choruses, world music, and the occasional tasteful secular modern piece (difficult to find, unfortunately) but for winter holidays (often coinciding with an end-of-term concert)? You either have to not do any holiday music at all, which unfortunately leaves out a vast part of the choral tradition, sing secular winter songs, which doesn't have much variety (or, imho, taste….I hatehatehated singing Winter Wonderland for the umpteenth time), or try to have a mix of different winter holidays along with some secular pieces. The latter was what my college chorus did (at just about the definition of the most secular school in the world), and I think it worked ok. Christmas music usually made up the majority of the program because that's the majority of choral holiday music, but we'd also sing Hanukkah and secular music. I think for the latter, if you're a mature singer, you have to realize that you're not always going to agree with the content of the music you're performing–sitting out for one song just gives all the Christian members an excuse to sit out for the Hanukkah and secular songs, after all, and I think that's equally disagreeable.
It would be great if there were a resource of pagan-friendly choral music suggestions out there that high school students who were so inclined could suggest to their director for a more diverse musical lineup. One of my favorites was Elgar's "The Snow", which has a theme of death and rebirth under the winter's snow. Another one I like is "Sure on this Shining Night", which has great settings by Samuel Barber and Morten Lauridsen, and I think of the beautiful text as a sort of pantheistic carol. Wassailing songs also have their root in Pagan traditions and are good fun.
I've been interested in finding and recording music for various holidays, but especially for Yule, for some time. I do have somewhat of a collection of older pieces, but not always music to go with the words, or vice versa. I think this sort of this is out there. Even just a little more than a century ago, Christmas songs in England seem to have been more about drinking and carousing on the one hand, or wassailing on the other, than about any myth of virgin births and manger-babies; I have no problem using those older songs for Yule.
Also, I should say: as much as I often do not like "fylks," a few years back I used the tune of the Middle English carol "Lullay, lullay als i lay on yoolis nicht" and wrote words to it about one of my favorite Yule-tide themes: the Wild Hunt.
"I think this sort of this" should be "I think this sort of thing".
Indeed; speaking of wassailing, this page (http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_an... has a nice long list of wassail songs at the end…and unfortunately links to a Geocities page no longer extant. I found that when I was browsing around on wassailing out of curiosity just now, alas that it's not there for us.
My understanding, as a Pagan teacher (who would love to teach a Bible-as-literature course, as it strikes me as sad how few students catch the allusions to Biblical stories and characters in much of our English literature) is that student-led prayer and religious activity is, in fact, fine.
That is the line our own school district has followed, with, in past years, both an active Pagan student group and an active Christian group meeting after school. (Actually, the Christian group cheats a bit, drawing on a local evangelical church for some outside leadership, though clearly with the eager approval of the students involved.)
Graciousness and communication can go a long way. It does not sound, at first blush, as though the Pagan family in question have gone overboard on either one.
Perhaps I'll be seen as a Pagan heretic for thinking this way–but I have seen at least one school district apply the standard of student-led to Pagan as well as Christian religious groups, and it does not seem to have caused much difficulty. And the training I've received on the subject definitely has this as the legal standard, established by the Supreme Court.
Cont'd from above
Most of the time, music teachers and school administrators are understanding. This year, the band director made sure to include Native American music and that good ol' Welsh Pagan standby, "Deck the Halls" (originally a song for Nos Galan Gwaef / new year, which Wiccan folks call Samhaine, BTW). Other years, it has become a fight. One music teacher asked, "Can't they just mouth the words?" My son reminded her that would be tantamount to lying… pretending to worship Jesus, which is disrespectful. The schools don't seem to have such a problem in comprehension when the Pentacostal children refuse to participate in Halloween activities… but they're learning. Slowly.
(technical question… why does it keep tellin' me my comments are too long, when others' comments seem to take up as much or more space?)
In my high school chorus, most of the holiday music was secular except for the few foreign language Christmas songs we were given. Looking back it was kinda sneaky, because we never knew what we were actually singing! LOL At any rate, the music was always picked by the school, not the students, so they were definitely treading a fine line there, but that was way before my Pagan days.
The problem is the way the kids that "sit out" the majority religion's songs will be treated. Contrary to their "love your neighbor" rule, Christians – and kids/teens in general – can be quite cruel to anyone that is different. Even though I hadn't discovered Paganism at that point in my life, I remember only too well how it felt to be "different" in other ways. Kids get singled out for harassment and have their lives made miserable by the majority, which is part of why peer pressure is such a problem in schools. Conform or be lonely at best, bullied at worst, and the schools haven't seemed to develop an effective way of stopping this.
As far as the Facebook vs. Myspace topic goes, while I have both, I'll always prefer Myspace. Both have their bugs and annoyances, but what puts Myspace on top for me is the music and design options. I'm an artist: I don't want my site to look like everyone else's. And I find a lot of good musicians through Myspace. I'm also not into the millions of games on either site, but on Facebook I'm constantly inundated with what everyone is growing on their virtual farms, so from my perspective Myspace seems a bit more "mature" in that regard. LOL
Meh, when it comes to Da Holidaze, be it in song or card form, I say the sillier and goofier, the better! "Father Christmas" by The Kinks still rocks (and rings true!) after all these years!
Nigella Lawson is from a Jewish background, not a Christian one.
What ever happened to kids writing their own lyrics to the songs they made us sing in school for concerts? We came up with some truly heinous lyrics. Our very uptight music teacher caught a snatch of what were REALLY singing, turned the darkest shade of red I've seen a person turn and it was decided that after 6th grade, participation in music would be elective.
Good times.
There's not too many Christmas songs I really like. In fact, this is really the only one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9coPzDx6tA
Pagans can be pretty stupid about the holidays. A bunch of years back I came across a Pagan website that was suggesting that the song, "Good King Wenceslas" would be a good song for Pagans to use. It seems they didn't realize that Wenceslas was a Christian and oppressed his Pagan subject and was deposed and killed for it.
I think if you're an intense debate member you get more space. So come and sign your soul away to intensedebate.com. Join us! MMhhhhaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my opinion, MySpace began its downward spiral when they made it impossible to distribute music from it. I spent three years as a member of the "wizard rock" community, writing about and photographing the bands and events they participated in. MySpace was HUGE in the creation of their success, but it was in 2005 when there weren't any preventative measures to keep listeners from downloading music. It isn't even up to the musicians anymore; no one is allowed to download music from MySpace. While I'm no longer directly involved in the wizard rock scene I honestly believe it's no longer the same directly as a result of this change to MySpace's terms of service.
That being said, social networking sites like that are beneficial to Pagans. I try to check Pagan space occasionally just to be involved in discussions and to read other people's blogs. Unlike MySpace or Facebook, it's a website that you can count on for being 100% Pagan or at least Pagan oriented. On Facebook, you need to belong to a group or have Pagans on your friends list. The same with regular MySpace. I haven't used regular MySpace in years.
Speaking as one who ran across plenty of kvetching about both myspace as well as facebook before managing to get involved on either one, I have to say that I've avoided both places with a passion. I don't feel that I've missed much — outside of crappola and defective site software, that is. Hearing the news when Murdoch bought one of them out, merely confirmed to me that it was a good place to continue avoiding.
But that's just me being my curmudgeonly self, as usual.
As a bit of context, I was one of the few open pagans in my high school, which annually held an extremely large (average attendance, 3200) holiday concert. It spanned the entire music department, and featured a wide array of music from totally secular and having nothing to do with the season to Jewish, West African, silly renditions of traditional carols (12 days after Christmas) to O Come All Ye Faithful. Of course, occasionally someone would bring up the religious nature of many of these songs, and the fact that most of the music we learned throughout the year was religious. Personally, I never had a problem with it, because as a previous commenter said, so much of the western musical tradition is Christian, and it'd be a shame to not play that for that reason. I never felt it inappropriate to ask me to play O Come All Ye Faithful, but then again I was a percussionist and it's not like I had to sing the words.
A lot of these issues where secular organizations have an inkling of religious-ties in them is more about people being overly self-righteous or entirely too soft. I don't turn off the radio when Christmas music comes on, I don't get offended when people wish me a "Merry Christmas", and all the others; I never did when I was in secondary school, either.
The biggest issue is when it is enforced and pushed on someone who doesn't want it, in such a way as to make them uncomfortable. But people shouldn't be so *sensitive* about these things, otherwise.
And if its a PURELY student organization (not supported by public budget at the expense of another organization), the students get no extra-credit for doing it, etc, etc, then it should be fine.
I agree with Fernwise and Kate Harkless' comments, and this isn't a battle I'd fight in this manner. When I took chorus, it was supposed to be a vehicle for music appreciation, with nods to history and forms. Not covering everything, especially the classical material, would leave some big holes in the overview. What will these parents do if their kid takes Art History and has homework or a report on Da Vinci's, Raphael's, or Michaelangelo's religious-inspired works?
My all time fave is the Vince Guaraldi Trio's piano jazz from the Peanuts special, but I'm all about some Cthulhu Yule tunes, myself:
http://www.cthulhulives.org/Solstice/fish-menplay...
A few thoughts about Marvel Comics and comics:
1.) Comics can do a pretty good job of treating religion and pantheons seriously. Or with respect for the religion and the deities of the pantheon. Or not. It's mostly an editorial vector.
2,) Marvel Comics sustains a mythology all of its own. Probably best appreciated for itself, not for its links to traditional mythologies.
3.) The hall of mirrors that is pop culture is self-referential. For a character named "Wiccan," look to "The Craft". "Charmed", and "Buffy" first.
4.) Now that Disney owns Marvel, I look forward to the day that the Marvel pantheon sings "It's A Small World!"
Paganspace seems to be a lot more mature than other social networking sites in that it's members respect it as an occult community and the boards are not over-loaded with wannabee-sexy pictures, people looking for hookups, and downright nastiness that is found on sites like myspace. This is most likely largely due to the fact that no one under the age of 18 is permitted to join Paganspace and in part due to the general friendship that is built between it's members. Paganspace is user friendly and the administration is quick to respond to any issues. Despite it's membership of over 20,000, the administration of paganspace treats everyone as an equal and a friend, which is more than can be said for any other social networking site.
Myspace and Facebook will fade into the mists of internet over time but specialty networking sites, like Paganspace, will endure simply because it IS a specialty site and does not cater to just any Tom, Dick, and Harry. It exists as a resource for a very specific group of people who understand how to use the resource and to help it become a successful social networking site.
There's nothing like going around door to door, getting free liquor, singing, getting worse and worse at it the drunker you got. Good times.
In a perfect world you could. However, in this one, what usually happens is the Christians go in, bar the door and refuse to let anyone else in. So separation of church and state is probably the way to go.
Using a pagan-themed social networking site as your go-to online network doesn't make much sense unless all your friends are pagans (that strongly self-identify as such).
I think as a Pagan, and as a musician, I disagree with the student sitting out the Christian songs. If she were a member of any other chorale group, she would sing what she was asked or be booted from the group. In organizations that hold auditions for their members, you don't play games. And the songs they'd sing around this time would have a very large chance of being Christian, and written in LATIN, a lot of times.
I realize this is a school and there are separation of church and state issues, but it seems the only people trumpeting those issues are pagans. I've never seen a Jewish child yet, and went to school, with several, who sat out during the rendition of Silent Night.
I think the family and the student are taking this opportunity to play "eternally oppressed", and I think it's in poor taste. There's no reason that student can't sing along to someone else's religious music, save for the fact that she wants to stomp her feet and make a big scene and drum the fact that she's Wiccan into the skulls of the community. A point that's probably well taken, and will now cause even more resentment toward her faith and serves as negativity for the rest of us to have to endure.
If this were my child, and I'm Pagan, his butt would be up there singing along like he's supposed to. There are secular songs in the show, so he could just shut his yap and do what he's told. It's negative press like this that Pagans do NOT NEED. "Pagans are always causing a scene. Pagans are always having a fit about having to do this or that." So, we can be seen as just another religious group, hellbent on bending the world to our own view. Well, I think it sucks and I view it with distaste.
So, basically what this does is set a precedent. Now that the snobby Wiccan can sit out for the Christian songs and act like a 2 year old(with her parent's consent, no less!), the Christian kids just might get it in their skulls that it's acceptable to throw a tantrum and sit out for songs that are not religiously intended for them. Oh, how nice! Just what we needed. Some more religious banter. It'll be great the next time my son's school does songs for Chinese New Year to see all the Christians sitting out because they're too good to participate in something that might further their knowledge of World Societies. I'll toss a thank you letter to the Keens for having started this little trend.
If I were the school admin, I'd fail her little butt for the semester for failure to participate, and if I were her mother I'd blister her behind for drawing such attention to things that need to be left OUT of school, although it looks as if her parents are most of the problem.
Well, the standard of the separation of church and state has been set by SCOTUS as student-led for student groups, and as Bible-as-literature or cultural history in classrooms. There is nothing unconstitutional about my teaching a course in the Bible, any more than there is a constitutional issue in my teaching my (annual) unit on Greek mythology. (I also hope to teach a little Norse mythology, but it's been harder to find appropriate materials to use there.)
How do I know? I've taken graduate-level training specifically in how to teach the Bible as literature in a public school without violating the separation of church and state. It can be done–it's not even all that hard, though it does take thought and an awareness of where the law really stands, as opposed to where our personal opinions would put it.
What sorts of materials for teaching Norse mythology would you be looking for?
It looks like Nigella unintentionally outed herself if she is Pagan, but who knows. I always thought Terry Pratchett was Pagan until he publically stated he was an atheist. Jim Henson seemed to be another good BNP candidate, may he rest in peace. He will always be remembered for the Muppets, but his heart truly lied in creating works like 'The Dark Crystal,' 'Labyrinth,' and the 'Storyteller' TV series.
You two may get at least a little kick out of the latest Spongebob Squarepants holiday song, "Don't be a Jerk, It's Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V928jhDMQ1E
Yeah, you're right. I'd forgotten about that.
Hello
Now a days Facebook is a popular social networking site and people use it for friends and business.Its really good to know about Nigella lawson's.You have provided so much information to us and I came to know so many new news of pagans.