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Schools should not abandon nativity plays due to political correctness

AGXStarseed

Well-Known Member
(Not written by me)


A HEAD teacher is calling for a return to traditional nativity plays after a poll showed only a third of UK schools now hold them.

Yarm Preparatory School head Bill Sawyer said banning Christian plays to be politically correct was 'divisive' rather than inclusive.

And after it was revealed that a shopping centre in Scotland has banned the manger scene he said schools should return to the traditional nativity story for their Christmas plays.

A survey carried out by parenting website Mumsnet found that only a third of UK schools invite parents to watch their children in a classic nativity play.

Almost half, or 47 per cent of schools offer an ‘updated nativity’.

While one in eight have dropped Christian references completely, the survey discovered.

However, the poll also showed that two-thirds of parents whose school does not hold a traditional nativity would prefer it to.

The Thistles shopping centre in Stirling has this year outlawed the nativity scene to avoid upsetting non-religious people.

And a school in America has boycotted Christmas carols that mention the name Jesus to be more sensitive to its diverse population.

Mr Sawyer said that even Sainsbury's Christmas TV advert this year depicted a school concert instead of the Bible story of Jesus' birth.

Pupils at Yarm Preparatory, which is a private school, are bucking the trend and performing the age-old Christmas story starring Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, three wise men, angels and shepherds.

Mr Sawyer added: "“It is incredibly sad that the nativity has become the exception rather than the rule and I believe that schools have a big part to play in its return.

"Our children thoroughly enjoy enacting the Christmas story as much as their parents enjoy watching it.

“The reasoning that it offends people of different religions is questionable and there is little evidence that the vast majority of people of different faiths feel this way.

“Banning Christian observances to be ‘politically correct’ is divisive and does not inspire unity or integration.

“We talk to our pupils about Christmas, Ramadan, Diwali, Hanukkah and other religious or cultural celebrations and encourage them to be accepting and open-minded and are very proud of our beautifully performed, humorous but definitely traditional nativity play.”

It emerged last week that management at the Thistles centre in Stirling declined a request for the traditional nativity display saying that customers did not want to be 'subjected to individual organisation's beliefs'.


Source: Headteacher: 'Schools should not abandon nativity plays due to political correctness'
 
Yeah I agree, most schools have stopped doing them in a lame attempt to be "Politically Correct" and not upset Parents of kids from non-Christian families.
 
If I was forced to participate in a nativity play at my school I think I'd have screamed. I am an atheist and so is my family, I don't believe in it. I respect people who are religious, but in our society being inclusive should be the norm. In a public setting such as a school I would support a neutral play. If the nativity play was presented as a story of complete fiction, then maybe it's fine. It's traditional, but then they should also do other representations of what is considered appropriate at that time of year for other belief systems/cultures maybe on an annual rotation or some such. It's important to celebrate cultural heritage and in the UK we're from all over.
 
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I'm fine with people doing the traditional nativity plays at Christmastime but at the same time, I'm all for schools doing other Christmas-themed stories as one of the plays that happened at my Junior school was an updated version of A Christmas Carol which was in the modern day, set in the East Riding of Yorkshire and had Scrooge as a cruel takeaway owner.

I remember watching one of Irish comedian Dara O'Briain's comedy stand up shows (I can't show you the clip as it has swearing in it) - in which he complains about having to sit through the School Nativity, although for him it's less because of the theological and more of a physical complaint as he says he has to sit for a long time to watch the school nativity on small chairs which aren't comfortable.
He also points out that there are other Christmas stories that the kids could do - such as A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life before joking about the kids possibly doing Die Hard as their Christmas play. (For the record, I would watch that. :D)
 
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An idea may be for the school to send both children and their parents a letter/text/email about the school winter play months in advance and asking what people would want to see - be it a traditional nativity play, an adaptation (traditional or updated) of a Christmas-themed story like A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life, a fairytale like Cinderella or Snow White, something different, etc.
That way, you may get more variety and everyone at least gets a say.
 
I don't really see what all the fuss is about. I would definitely send my hypothetical children to a school that does Die Hard instead of a nativity play though.
 
He is? Have you not read Revelation?
To be fair - Jesus never read it and it's kind of out of step with the rest of the book.


It does get a bit daft at times. The nativity is taken by some Christians as truth, by others as false and by some as a highly embellished, but still significant story. To everyone else it's just a fable. What's there to get upset about? Whether you believe in it or not, it's a nice story. I don't like other people forcing their beliefs on me but I don't see that the traditional tale of the origin of Christmas should be seen as indoctrination or an offence to other beliefs.
Despite it's origins, Christmas has been celebrated as an expression of Christian faith for centuries. The majority of people who celebrate it now aren't Christian, but why deny those that are from expressing their faith? They can take meaning from it and the others don't.
I don't care whether it's the Nativity, A Christmas Carol or Die Hard as long as the kids are having fun and the proud parents can sit in the audience behind their phones filming it to embarrass their kids when they're teenagers ;)
 
Too bad they can't simply rotate such presentations annually to accommodate the most pervasive belief systems present within the school's population. Including the option of those students who do not wish to participate.

If anything it would be educational in exposing the students to other belief systems without one being preferred over another. Perhaps to send the best possible message not only to the students, but the parents and the local community as well.
 
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He is? Have you not read Revelation?

You're right! I was thinking about the gospels where it is mentioned how Jesus went into the temples and overturned the tables of the money changers - modern day bankers! He also chased them out with a cat-o'-nine-tails - probably what was considered an "assault rifle" in those days.
 
Like I mentioned before, I went to a religious school. I once played as Mary in our annual play when I was in Grade 4 or 5. My bald baby boy Cabbage Patch Kid was Baby Jesus, which was a big hit with both the kids and adults. Nothing went wrong in the play as far as I can recall. No potty emergencies, no forgotten lines, no crying. It really must have been a Christmas Miracle.:innocent:
 

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