Santa Banned From Classroom When Muslim Family Complains

I wanted my children to have a religious education so I sent them all to private parochial schools, without begging for any vouchers. I don't think there should be any place for any religion in public schools.

This one is actually for Pat. Normally I would agree with yo but at the same time I have to say that the family filing the complaint is now being intolerant of others as they have now forced a tradition, which existed far prior to their arrival, to be extinguished. For what benefit? Was their child singled out in a corner, pointed, and laughed at?

That is because in the Soviet Union, Santa Claus, or as they called him, "Father Snow," was a secular figure. Your family associates Santa Claus with him, but for other people throughout the world, Santa Claus is a religious figure.

Muslims say they are tolerant of everything, I guess they meant only what they want to be tolerant of.

Muslims say they are tolerant of everything, I guess they meant only what they want to be tolerant of.

why should one person rule the wishes of the entire class? Couldnt that child be sent to another class during the SANTA VISIT ? SO all the other children didnt have to suffer , Santa isnt a RELIGION after all

What ever has happened to our country? This sort of pandering to each person and ignoring the desires of many is ridiculous. It infuriates me past words.

It's great that no one in your family took offense at Santa. And it's great that Santa is all over, in ads, at malls, etc. But it is also ok for a Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness etc. to object to Santa at a public program their child is attending. My kids had many Jehovah's Witnesses, and their kindergarten teacher made a point of humiliating those children who could not participate in birthday or holiday celebrations. Don't panic. We are a Christian nation and Santa is here to stay. They did the right thing in respecting feelings here.

If they are so opposed to what the majority of this country believes in they should go back where they came from. Home school their little towel head if they object to the status quo and not spoil our holidays for American children.

I thought that the majority was supposed to rule in a democratic society. Apparently, that is no longer true. How extremely sad for all of us.

Go live in the country where Ur parents came from DO NOT TRY to take America's freedon and JOYS away. YOu don't like it than get out of this country. Americans and America love our country and ways. U need to complain to the dead man HUSSIAN

So are you saying If I go to Iran or another Islamic country I can complain about them celebrating Eid and they will stop? I highly doubt it. They should not be bending to the minorty vote, if more then 50% had complained then yes ban it but I doubt it was 10% that complained.

Heather,
Replace Iran with all Islamic Countries. Forget about non-muslims, even muslims who object to any of Islamic tradition will be severely punished. And for non-muslims, that will be their last day in life. How condescending. Before asking the US, why don't ask your 'ISLAMIC' States(Saudi) to allow atleast practice other religions freely.
For the record I am a non-christian and immigrant. I have nothing against any religion, but if people are behaving this way, I don't know what to say.

I'm Jewish and remember celebrating christmas in school. I also remember having days when every kid made a presentation of a holiday from their culture and shared stories and food and art and traditions. Celebrating is about sharing and joy and culture - why wouldn't kids want more of it rather than less? Sure I didn't believe in Santa, and other kids couldn't understand why a bunch of candles were special either, but explaining it (you know, learning), did us all far more good than had we hid from our differences.

Go cry in another room while listening to Adam Sandler's album.

I think the muslimnation should be sent out of the U.S anyway they have no business here after all that is happening and with their lies of tolerance. They only tolerate each other and even have our so-called president believing in them he needs to go run their country not ours. There has always been a Santa Clause for children here and to take it away is a joke and allowing muslims to be here just makes this country worse

Why is it that we are the only country that panders to non americans if this were Britan France or any other country it would be to to bad you live in our country now and these are our customs.

I agree with Evan. I went to middle school in NY. My class had children of three different religions; Protestants, Jews and Catholics. Here's an example of what happened: On Ash Wednesday morning, the Catholic kids were at Mass and 1/3 of the class was gone. They came back with ash on their foreheads. It was interesting and they shared the tradition with the rest of us. Likewise with Jewish and Protestant holidays. We learned to appreciate our different family and religious celebrations. How can there be tolerance if we hide who we are and what we celebrate from eachother? I say, celebrate all traditions publically and even in schools. It's not a conversion opportunity. It's learning to accept, honor and even appreciate the beliefs of others.

For those who believe Head Start was protecting the feelings of a child whose family didn't engage in the Santa tradition (the spirit of giving gifts at Christmas, without revealing who the real giver is), consider how the other 25 or so children now feel about this child and his family. The actions of Head Start divided the child from the rest of the class by depriving it of their tradition, instead of encouraging the child to share in the celebration. How dumb is that?