cktimes.ca Archives for The Pastoral Lens


The Pastoral Lens

With Pastor Brian Horrobin of First Baptist Church, Wallaceburg

Baby and Bath Water Problems

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

In a classic case of throwing the baby (you know, the One in the manger) out with the bath water, the Spokane Public Schools department inadvertently left Christmas off the list of holidays in their December newsletter. In an attempt to be politically correct, the newsletter cited such holidays as Hanukkah, Human Rights Day, winter break, the Islamic holy day, Eid al-Adha, and the first day of Kwanzaa. However, Christmas was left off the list. I mean, who really knows about such a spurious, unknown holiday as Christmas, right?

For the record, the Spokane, WS Public Schools have said this was an accident. "It was absolutely an error of omission" said district spokeswoman, Terren Roloff. "In our efforts to be inclusive, we missed the obvious." Did you catch that? She said, "In our efforts to be inclusive, we missed the obvious." Right. Another way to put it might be, "In our efforts to keep from offending anyone out there who doesn't hold to a Christian faith, we decided to pretend "the holiday observed by Christians" (can't say "Christmas", you know!) didn't exist." Just add the Spokane Public Schools to the long and growing list organizations afraid to acknowledge the blatantly obvious.

I was having a mini vacation last week with my family in Frankenmuth, MI. As I made my purchase at a particular shop, the cashier smiled and wished me a "happy holidays." I paused and then responded with, "Oh, is this another one of those places where you can't say "Merry Christmas"?" To her credit, this lady blushed and quickly wished me a robust "Merry Christmas" as I left the store. Ironically, I passed a number of different nativity scenes along the main drag of this cute tourist town. Apparently it is still legal to portray the real meaning of Christmas in public.

If I sound sarcastic this week it's because, well, I am! I'm getting a little bit tired of all the cow-towing out there because we're so darn afraid to say or do something that others won't approve of. It's Christmas season, folks! If you don't believe in it, that's your free choice, but it's still here and it's not going away. So, from my house to yours this season, have yourself a merry little CHRISTmas this year!