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In Little Rock, Ark., the Agape Church was forced to cancel its planned matinee performances of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for local elementary school students because a group calling itself “Arkansas Society of Free Thinkers” threatened legal action against the school district because of the play’s “religious content.”
In Missoula, Mont., a group of “anonymous” Chief Charlo Elementary School parents wrote a letter to the school district complaining that the holiday music programming included too many “religious” songs. Not satisfied with just proclaiming their dis-approval, the unsigned letter went so far as to claim the practice was a form of bullying.
Whether you agree on whether there is an ongoing “war on Christmas” or an “attack on Christianity,” anyone would be hard pressed not to acknowledge that common sense has pretty much left for the hills and left in its place a sack full of intolerance and pettiness that seems to grow larger with each passing year.
No matter your personal religious beliefs or nonbeliefs, Christmas is Christmas.
You can be the most devout atheist, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew or High Priestess of the Order of Perpetual Scrooges, and it doesn’t change the fact that Christmas has always been and always will be about the birth of Jesus Christ.
To some he is a savior, to others a prophet, and to still others he was just a man. But one does not have to believe in the religious, to participate in the giving of peace and kindness toward your fellow man that the narrative of Christmas embodies.
Complaints such as those in Little Rock and Missoula pale with pettiness when compared with the absolute utter devastation and tragedy that has befallen so many families and communities this past year.
Whether it be in the over a dozen states home to the families and victims of man-made mass violence or the tens of dozens across other states that lost their lives to Mother Nature, there is very real pain and suffering being endured by so many at this very moment.
And while any loss is painful to those in its grasp, there is something especially heartbreaking about the fact that in Newtown, Conn., this year there will forever remain presents unopened for 20 of the most innocent that humanity offers.
Would it really be so bad if but for just a little while we all remember what Christmas truly means?
Opinion
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Discussion
Our View: ‘Tis the season
- Opinion
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Our View: Absent from House
We can’t figure out why two Missouri legislators think they should be elected to the U.S. House when it appears they can’t seem to show up to take care of business in the Missouri House.
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Your View: Terrorism is terrorism
In the May 13 issue of The Joplin Globe there was an Associated Press article concerning the New Orleans shooting.
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Your View: Should we be outraged?
Were there effusive apologies following the lockdown of Boston as most of the continent indulged vicariously in the ongoing manhunt?
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Your View: Terrible injustice
I see this Jasper County nuisance law as a terrible injustice on the rights of the residents of Jasper County.
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Other Views: Conflicts in SEC
Money talks. In the continuing dispute over the all-too-cozy relationship between the people who create and sell financial products and the people who rate their risk, the money says: Shut up and let us do what we want.
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Phill Brooks, columnist: Missouri Senate did what Founding Fathers had in mind
George Washington once described the Senate as being like a saucer in which you pour coffee or tea.
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Our View: Fixing failure
Some 1,200 injured workers will finally get the payments they are owed. In its final week in session, Missouri’s General Assembly, through bipartisan efforts, passed a solution to address the insolvency of the state’s Second Injury Fund.
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Herb B. Kuhn, guest columnist: Delaying Medicaid reform could hurt rural Missouri
The Missouri Legislature missed a rare opportunity in the just-ended session to transform Medicaid and make a real difference in the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of our neighbors. Rural Missouri has the most to lose from the legislature’s failure to act.
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Kevin Wilson, guest columnist: When fear wins out, so do the terrorists
I’m going to make a bold statement that’s sure to draw a lot of comments, but hear me out before reaching for the keyboard to type a rebuttal.
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Marta Mossburg, columnist: Maybe government is tyrannical after all
Less than two weeks ago President Obama stood in front of graduates from The Ohio State University and told them to reject those who warn of government tyranny.
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