Spain hates Baby Jesus
Posted
November 30, 2006 at
4:48 pm by
Prescott
In a move that I naively thought was uniquely American, Reuters is reporting that a school in the heavily Catholic Spain is canceling Christmas.
MADRID (Reuters) - The Hilarion Gimeno school in Zaragoza said teachers had put forward various reasons for not celebrating Christmas, but ABC said the worry was that Muslim children might be upset.
That may be the best reason yet for us here in America to clearly draw the line between church and state in our schools — so we don’t upset the Muslims. Because they get angry. And you wouldn’t like them when they’re angry. A war on Christmas ain’t nothin’ compared to a jihad on Papa Noel.
Bill O’Reilly has already declared a boycott on tapas, sangria, and Penelope Cruz. King Carlos? You’re on notice.
Tags: christmas, muslims, News-&-Politics, spain |
8 Responses to “Spain hates Baby Jesus”
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1. Emilia Liz said:
December 1, 2006 @ 9:57 am
I’m not one of these Christians who’ll be screaming about a “war on Christmas,” but sometimes the attempt to ban Christmas carols, decorations, etc. in the name of political correctness strikes me as stupid.
As well, I’ve got no problem with having schools recognize non-Christian holidays like Hanaukah (I hope I’ve got the spelling right; I’ve seen this word spelled in a million different ways!). Actually, I’m thinking of buying a menorah myself just because I love the look of them, even though I’m not Jewish and the menorah has no religious significance for me.
2. Ortizzle said:
December 2, 2006 @ 10:52 am
One little school in Spain being overly P.C. is not going to upset the Christmas applecart. What that school needs to do is *include* more education about other religious customs, muslim or otherwise, without curtailing Christian celebrations. In any case, if a little more attention is paid to the muslim religion, maybe the people who write about “Catholic Spain” would do well to remember that Spain was under muslim rule for over 8 hundred years. It is a huge part of Spanish history, and left a major marks on the culture, customs, language, architecture, etc. It goes much deeper than modern-day muslim immigrants, jihads and the war on terrorism. I worked as a teacher and textbook writer and editor in Spain for over 24 years. After Franco’s death, the Ministry of Education began a slow campaign to re-tell Spanish history, to update textbooks to include teaching cultural references to Spain’s muslim past that had been igored or forgotten for decades under the Franco regime. To say nothing of the revival of the various regional languages spoken in Spain besides Spanish. I watched Spain grow into a modern country with democratic ideals that reflected ideas on living in a global society.
That said, Spain is in no danger of hating baby Jesus just because of what one little school has done. There will still be plenty of Noche Buena carols out in the streets and the Reyes Magos will still stop by with their camels to deliver the presents on January 6th. People will still build gigantic manger scenes in their homes and eat ten course meals on Christmas Eve. And buy tickets for the Christmas lottery, El Niño. None of that is likely to disappear any time soon. I was there last Christmas. I saw street signs in arabic in Granada for the first time. But that was the Moorish capital of Spain. And there are a lot of Muslim immigrants. It didn’t stop the city from looking like Christmas from head to toe.
Long live tapas, sangría, Penelope Cruz, King Juan Carlos I, and a lot of other things people have no idea about in Spain. Long live a country that knows more than most people think about terrorism, but, more importantly, about tolerance and solidarity. Feliz Navidad.
3. Prescott said:
December 2, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
4. Ortizzle said:
December 2, 2006 @ 2:31 pm
Sorry, but your article has a direct link to this statement:
“At least five people have been killed in Afghanistan as protests against European cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad swept across the country.”
Maybe I’m dense, but… where is the satire?
5. Prescott said:
December 2, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
6. Ortizzle said:
December 2, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
I see your point. Now. But… I think it’s fair to state that if cartoons mocking Jesus Christ were to appear in newspapers, there would be a lot of protest. Particularly in this country where Christian fundamentalism abounds. I’m not saying that they would be killing those people who mocked J.C., but that might also have to do with the fact that the current super-powers in the world are largely Christian countries. Certainly, they would raise their voices and be heard.
I am a big fan of satire when it involves radicial groups who do not seem to have a grip on reality, or at least what could be considered a rational, impartial point of view. The problem lies with taking a hit at a religious group in the global sense of representing their entire religion. I think *that* is the source of their angry reaction. Perhaps the reason that your satire did not come out as clearly as you intended is that you chose a very controversial topic which strikes too many people at a deep psychological level that is difficult to overcome.
Thanks for clearing up your point of view, in any case. Sorry for “not getting it.”
7. Prescott said:
December 2, 2006 @ 3:55 pm
Bottom line, it was a dashed off, not well-thought out post (like most of my writing), and if I offended any religious groups I deeply apologize, lest my house be firebombed. (See, there I go again.)
I’m sorry, but no level of anger justifies violence, period.
8. catholic schools said:
January 16, 2007 @ 1:15 am
What’s wrong with people. It’s not like I get offended by Ramadan or Hanaukah! If I visit a Muslim country I want to hear the call to prayer because it’s something different.