About 20 years ago we were in Charlotte, North Carolina. It must have been Thanksgiving weekend as they were doing the lighting of the tree and we went and and it was a big deal with lots of people and all. Quite fun. They had a couple of choirs for the festivities and they sang some Christmas songs. Please note that I said Christmas songs not Christmas Carols. Lots of ‘Rudolf’ and no ‘Holy Nights’.
I asked my sister-in-law about this as I thought it odd. She said that as Charlotte was becoming more multi-cultural it was deemed that singing religious type Christmas Carols may be offensive to some and so they took them out of the repertoire.
The USA and Canada as well, were built, in part, on religious tolerance. So, the way I see it is that if someone comes to one of our countries to be part thereof, they would want to subscribe to that value. And anyway the essence of most religions is tolerance.
There are numerous stories about children being punished or scolded for praying in public schools. There are actually rules/laws about this. This is a government being intolerant of religion. Actually, certain people in government pushing this type of agenda to be more specific.
Historically, governments interfering in someone’s beliefs has never been terribly successful. And that is what this is – a government trying to tell a person what they can or cannot believe.
So, please in this Christmas season, be tolerant of others and their beliefs. I don’t really care if you pray three times a day, once a week, or not at all. You have the right. But please be tolerant of others. Be kind. If you have the opportunity to help another person, do so, despite any trappings.
