Religion at school events, Creative Minds International

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't care about this stuff, but my kid will explain to your kid not just that Santa isn't real but that neither is Jesus.

And then tip his fedora to m’lady.

She's a girl. She started doing this at 4. I cannot make her stop. But if you're celebrating Easter in public school, I'm also not going to try that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easter as in the stations of the cross and 3 crosses mounted up? Or Easter as in the Easter bunny, baskets, and eggs/candy?

I mean, even the White House has the annual Easter egg hunt.

And it should not.
Separation of Church and state.
It is absurd they still do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - it's clear most of the people responding are either Christian or not in a religious minority. You have every right to be bothered by this. Besides currently being Ramadan, Purim and Holi both fall before Easter.

I agree, whether this is actually a First Amendment issue likely depends on exactly what the activity was (it likely was not, i.e. Santa, menorahs, etc.). But you still have every right to be upset about it. When your kids come home home with FOMO about Easter and Christmas is hard. I don't care if they've been largely removed from their religious origins, I'm still trying to raise my kids to be proud about our own traditions, but when they're constantly exposed to Santa and Easter bunnies it's harder - an no, we will not voluntarily participate in even "Secular" aspects of those holidays.

Nope, my kid is not being raised Christian. I’ve just been in DC schools long enough to understand the overall context. If you want your kids to celebrate Holi in school then YOU need to organize it. I’m sure the school will be excited to host you.

If you're celebrating Easter and Christmas, you are in fact raising your child culturally Christian.

You keep making this point, but I don't think any religious minority here is asking for our public schools to acknowledge our religious holidays. (Personally I'm not looking for that at all). We are largely expressing a desire, not a demand, just a desire, that no religious holiday be actively celebrated in a public school classroom.

So no Halloween or Valentine’s day either?

Yep Separation of Church and state. This is not a hard concept

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - it's clear most of the people responding are either Christian or not in a religious minority. You have every right to be bothered by this. Besides currently being Ramadan, Purim and Holi both fall before Easter.

I agree, whether this is actually a First Amendment issue likely depends on exactly what the activity was (it likely was not, i.e. Santa, menorahs, etc.). But you still have every right to be upset about it. When your kids come home home with FOMO about Easter and Christmas is hard. I don't care if they've been largely removed from their religious origins, I'm still trying to raise my kids to be proud about our own traditions, but when they're constantly exposed to Santa and Easter bunnies it's harder - an no, we will not voluntarily participate in even "Secular" aspects of those holidays.

Nope, my kid is not being raised Christian. I’ve just been in DC schools long enough to understand the overall context. If you want your kids to celebrate Holi in school then YOU need to organize it. I’m sure the school will be excited to host you.

If you're celebrating Easter and Christmas, you are in fact raising your child culturally Christian.

You keep making this point, but I don't think any religious minority here is asking for our public schools to acknowledge our religious holidays. (Personally I'm not looking for that at all). We are largely expressing a desire, not a demand, just a desire, that no religious holiday be actively celebrated in a public school classroom.

So no Halloween or Valentine’s day either?

Yep Separation of Church and state. This is not a hard concept

Instead of posting this site, you need to go to your school and start a huge fight over this. Tell your kids teachers, the principal, other parents -- everyone -- that religious anything is 100 percent unacceptable. You need to die on this hill because this is extremely important (snicker, snicker).

[Anonymous]

you can tell everyone on this thread is white and sends their kids to lily white schools. there's way more christianity in black and latino dominated schools and no one cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - it's clear most of the people responding are either Christian or not in a religious minority. You have every right to be bothered by this. Besides currently being Ramadan, Purim and Holi both fall before Easter.

I agree, whether this is actually a First Amendment issue likely depends on exactly what the activity was (it likely was not, i.e. Santa, menorahs, etc.). But you still have every right to be upset about it. When your kids come home home with FOMO about Easter and Christmas is hard. I don't care if they've been largely removed from their religious origins, I'm still trying to raise my kids to be proud about our own traditions, but when they're constantly exposed to Santa and Easter bunnies it's harder - an no, we will not voluntarily participate in even "Secular" aspects of those holidays.

Nope, my kid is not being raised Christian. I’ve just been in DC schools long enough to understand the overall context. If you want your kids to celebrate Holi in school then YOU need to organize it. I’m sure the school will be excited to host you.

If you're celebrating Easter and Christmas, you are in fact raising your child culturally Christian.

You keep making this point, but I don't think any religious minority here is asking for our public schools to acknowledge our religious holidays. (Personally I'm not looking for that at all). We are largely expressing a desire, not a demand, just a desire, that no religious holiday be actively celebrated in a public school classroom.

So no Halloween or Valentine’s day either?

Yep Separation of Church and state. This is not a hard concept

Instead of posting this site, you need to go to your school and start a huge fight over this. Tell your kids teachers, the principal, other parents -- everyone -- that religious anything is 100 percent unacceptable. You need to die on this hill because this is extremely important (snicker, snicker).

If you're going to rely on social pressure and bullying people from minority religions to keep the peace on something, it's just weird to brag about that fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't care about this stuff, but my kid will explain to your kid not just that Santa isn't real but that neither is Jesus.

There is no historian in the world who believes Jesus wasn’t real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - it's clear most of the people responding are either Christian or not in a religious minority. You have every right to be bothered by this. Besides currently being Ramadan, Purim and Holi both fall before Easter.

I agree, whether this is actually a First Amendment issue likely depends on exactly what the activity was (it likely was not, i.e. Santa, menorahs, etc.). But you still have every right to be upset about it. When your kids come home home with FOMO about Easter and Christmas is hard. I don't care if they've been largely removed from their religious origins, I'm still trying to raise my kids to be proud about our own traditions, but when they're constantly exposed to Santa and Easter bunnies it's harder - an no, we will not voluntarily participate in even "Secular" aspects of those holidays.

Nope, my kid is not being raised Christian. I’ve just been in DC schools long enough to understand the overall context. If you want your kids to celebrate Holi in school then YOU need to organize it. I’m sure the school will be excited to host you.

If you're celebrating Easter and Christmas, you are in fact raising your child culturally Christian.

You keep making this point, but I don't think any religious minority here is asking for our public schools to acknowledge our religious holidays. (Personally I'm not looking for that at all). We are largely expressing a desire, not a demand, just a desire, that no religious holiday be actively celebrated in a public school classroom.

So no Halloween or Valentine’s day either?

Yep Separation of Church and state. This is not a hard concept

Instead of posting this site, you need to go to your school and start a huge fight over this. Tell your kids teachers, the principal, other parents -- everyone -- that religious anything is 100 percent unacceptable. You need to die on this hill because this is extremely important (snicker, snicker).

If you're going to rely on social pressure and bullying people from minority religions to keep the peace on something, it's just weird to brag about that fact.

Pretty sure none of the people complaining here about traces of religion in schools will actually say something about it to their schools because they know they will sound very petty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't care about this stuff, but my kid will explain to your kid not just that Santa isn't real but that neither is Jesus.

There is no historian in the world who believes Jesus wasn’t real.

Yeah, we've had that conversation, believe me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look this is how it works in DC schools outside of W3. You will not get them to take Easter (or Christmas) out of the school. But if you want to add Ramadan (or Hannukah) they’ll almost certainly support that. So you need to be proactive and understand where you are.

I work at a Fortune 500 in a place with a large Muslim community. We have had a number of very nice presentations at work about Ramadan, respect for co-workers who are fasting, etc. We don't ever have presentations related to Easter. It was super awkward when somebody asked why exactly that was. It was a loaded question but still had a bit of a point.

I'm in favor of keeping religion out of the schools BUT dealing with reality, I agree with poster above. Easter doesn't belong at STEAM night but Easter symbols could maybe be part of a presentation on spring holidays. I think those who might like to share their different culture, holidays, etc. will be welcomed. It can be a bit awkward to be a person not from a culture trying to plan something for people from that culture. Please consider volunteering if you can. My .02.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look this is how it works in DC schools outside of W3. You will not get them to take Easter (or Christmas) out of the school. But if you want to add Ramadan (or Hannukah) they’ll almost certainly support that. So you need to be proactive and understand where you are.

I work at a Fortune 500 in a place with a large Muslim community. We have had a number of very nice presentations at work about Ramadan, respect for co-workers who are fasting, etc. We don't ever have presentations related to Easter. It was super awkward when somebody asked why exactly that was. It was a loaded question but still had a bit of a point.

I'm in favor of keeping religion out of the schools BUT dealing with reality, I agree with poster above. Easter doesn't belong at STEAM night but Easter symbols could maybe be part of a presentation on spring holidays. I think those who might like to share their different culture, holidays, etc. will be welcomed. It can be a bit awkward to be a person not from a culture trying to plan something for people from that culture. Please consider volunteering if you can. My .02.

Easter is on Sunday and it's a holiday from work, and it's heavily promoted in popular culture?
What is awkward about that?
If someone is having some sort of trouble that could be fixed by Easter education, add some Easter education. Otherwise, pay people to stay home during Ramadan or stop being an ahole to your coworkers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener is happy to learn about any religious holiday if something delicious is involved. The more shots on goal for special snacks, the better.

Yep, seriously some people want to take the joy out things for all the kids just because you happen to not agree with it.

Let’s be real, no public school is talking about the Bible or Jesus. My bet was it was a station with bunnies, eggs, or whatever.

OP and others not happy with it, feel free to not attend the event, take your kid out of school for the day or whatever. Just because you are in the 1% doesn’t mean you get to dictate community building and fun events at school for the majority

It's worse. They disagree with it because they want to take people's joy away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener is happy to learn about any religious holiday if something delicious is involved. The more shots on goal for special snacks, the better.

Yep, seriously some people want to take the joy out things for all the kids just because you happen to not agree with it.

Let’s be real, no public school is talking about the Bible or Jesus. My bet was it was a station with bunnies, eggs, or whatever.

OP and others not happy with it, feel free to not attend the event, take your kid out of school for the day or whatever. Just because you are in the 1% doesn’t mean you get to dictate community building and fun events at school for the majority

And to add, it doesn’t mean the school is not inclusive. Like others have said, feel free to host an event showcasing your religion. But it’s unrealistic that the school is going to focus on Islam and showcase that when maybe 2 kids out of 200 are.

It's not unrealistic at all. You don't seem to know what "inclusive" means. It means not ignoring minority interests.
Being rare is more of a reason to showcase. The other 198 people don't need to be educated on what Easter is.

[Anonymous]

There's a subset of privileged white people who leap at the chance to feel like a persecuted minority and I think they're all on this thread.

[Anonymous]

I am enjoying this thread because it seems super ridiculous but we're all ignoring two inconvenient facts:

1. There's no public school in D.C. where people actually utter the name "Jesus Christ"

2. Schools in DC would rather spend a week celebrating obscure religions with (rounding here) zero adherents worldwide because equity than acknowledge Christianity is a legitimate religion.