'Easter' banned by elementary school principal


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Boys and girls at an Alabama elementary school will still get to hunt for eggs ? but they can?t call them ?Easter Eggs? have the principal banished the word for the sake of religious diversity.

?We had in the past a parent to question us about some of the things we do here at school,? said Heritage Elementary School principal Lydia Davenport. ?So we?re just trying to make sure we respect and honor everybody?s differences.?

Television station WHNT reported that teachers were informed that no activities related to or centered around any religious holiday would be allowed ? in the interest of religious diversity.

?Kids love the bunny and we just make sure we don?t say ?the Easter Bunny? so that we don?t infringe on the rights of others because people relate the Easter bunny to religion,? she told the television station. ? A bunny is a bunny and a rabbit is a rabbit.?

Teachers had planned to have an Easter egg-themed quiz bowl where boys and girls would ring in with egg buzzers and search for answers hidden in Easter eggs.

?I don?t get upset about too many things, but this upsets me,? one parent wrote to the television station. ?Even non-believers enjoy a good egg hunt. Kids need to enjoy being kids.?

Davenport reconsidered the ban after meeting with district leaders ? but she still won?t allow teachers to use the word ?Easter.?

?We compromised by allowing teachers to use other different kinds of shapes besides eggs in the classroom,? she told the television station.

But the good news, according to Madison City School Board member Phil Schmidt is that students are going to be allowed to have eggs.

?The principal was trying to be extremely cautious about having anything religious in the school ? probably more cautious than she needed to be.,? he told Fox News. ?In this world of schools, it?s probably better to be cautious than reckless. But at the same time you?ve got to use good judgment about it.?

Schmidt said Madison is a very religious community and when it comes to beliefs ? they are diverse and tolerant.

At the same time ? he said it?s important to put things in perspective.

?Don?t over think it,? he said. ?It?s the Easter Bunny. People have known there are multi-colored eggs that have been a symbol of Easter for a long, long, long, long time. I don?t think you want to over think it. I don?t think our parents want us to over think it.?

And besides, Schmidt pointed out ? they even have an Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

?So having Easter eggs at a school doesn?t seem like it would be a huge stretch,? he said.

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An atheist for Easter.

I love hiding Easter eggs and having the kids come around all excited hunting around the backyard for them. Easter is a secular holiday for me. Much like Xmas. All of the fun, none of the superstition.

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Boys and girls at an Alabama elementary school will still get to hunt for eggs ? but they can?t call them ?Easter Eggs? have the principal banished the word for the sake of religious diversity.

So... you are encouraging religious diversity... by not allowing a specific religion? :huh:

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Seems perfectly reasonable to me. She is allowing them to still find Eggs but she is trying to limit the religious connotations. I actually think this is a fairly sound idea. Whether Easter was originally a fertility thing, it isn't anymore. I mean if you really think about it, it's pretty sickening that we 'celebrate' Hallowe'en...

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Good. It's high time the separation of church and state be enforced unilaterally.

The religious indoctrination of children into ignorant superstitious nonsense (of ANY kind) is unconscionable in the modern age.

If, once they've grown to adulthood, the more gullible and cowardly want to seek comfort in such cults, so be it.

But children trust adults not to lie to them and any parent (well-meaning though they may be) who tells their child that any god is real is flat out lying to their own child.

Parents do it to make themselves feel better about the lies they were told by their parents. It's a selfish lie perpetuated ad nauseum.

It's time for the human race to grow up.

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This is freaking stupid. What's next? They will rename X-mas too?

I'm not even Christian, but I still enjoy these holidays. Those people who are doing are actually religious people themselves.

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Good. It's high time the separation of church and state be enforced unilaterally.

The religious indoctrination of children into ignorant superstitious nonsense (of ANY kind) is unconscionable in the modern age.

If, once they've grown to adulthood, the more gullible and cowardly want to seek comfort in such cults, so be it.

But children trust adults not to lie to them and any parent (well-meaning though they may be) who tells their child that any god is real is flat out lying to their own child.

Parents do it to make themselves feel better about the lies they were told by their parents. It's a selfish lie perpetuated ad nauseum.

It's time for the human race to grow up.

Using academic words in succession doesn't give you any more merit in your opinion than anyone else who may or may not believe in a 'God'. Forcing your opinion onto others so confidently though does prove the irony in your stance; as in there being no room for such ignorance in the evolution of the Human Race. Grow up.

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So... you are encouraging religious diversity... by not endorsing a specific religion? :huh:

Fixed that for you, Sometimes those biblical glasses can get a bit blurry and cause christian persecution syndrome.

Your options are either to allow celebration and with it the celebration of the willingness to slaughter children to satisfy gods fetish for babies blood AKA Eid al-Fitr or get rid of the baby jesus from it.

Take your pick

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You know, I'm not religious, but I'm still going to give my kids Christmas, Easter, etc. Holidays in 2013 are now more "pop culture" than religious.

Edit: Wow! Only a 100 more post till I have 2,000 post!

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Fixed that for you, Sometimes those biblical glasses can get a bit blurry and cause christian persecution syndrome.

Your options are either to allow celebration and with it the celebration of the willingness to slaughter children to satisfy gods fetish for babies blood AKA Eid al-Fitr or get rid of the baby jesus from it.

Take your pick

Actually, you only made it worse. This has nothing to do with CPS. Basically what you are saying now is that Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, etc... all of which are holidays on a national level regardless of if you are religious or not, should be cancelled in schools. You are okay with that because they have some christian roots. The man claims that he wants to encourage religious diversity and he is doing it by banning specific holidays because it has ties to a religion he doesn't like. Lets follow the path you are claiming though. So we already got Christmas, Easter, and Valentines day banned. Hell the first two aren't even christian holidays but lets just ignore the facts so you can have your argument. Lets also ban July 4 and Thanksgiving. Those are holidays that have ties to nationalism which in large amounts are bad as we saw in WW2. Also, ban Halloween because of its ties back to pagan holidays. Sounds ridiculous to me but that's what you are arguing for. Let's just ban all holidays because they all have ties, regardless of how small, to one religion or another. Don't want to endorse any and offend people right?

The option that exists in the real world, not your delusional world where everything christian is bad and should be banned is leave holidays alone. Easter isn't even a christian holiday so the guys whole premise is misguided. You sound like the government who will label anything terrorism just to argue their side. It's christian so ban it! It is a sad world were people are so filled with hate like you that you want to take an easter egg hunt away from kids because "CHRISTIANS!" I can't believe that you actually think banning all holidays is a good idea. And no you didn't say it directly but that is your argument. Endorsing any holiday means endorsing a religion which you are against.

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The way I see it, there are two ways:

1. Celebrate ALL religious events

2. Celebrate NO religious events

No picking and choosing which ones to do, it's either all or none.

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The way I see it, there are two ways:

1. Celebrate ALL religious events

2. Celebrate NO religious events

No picking and choosing which ones to do, it's either all or none.

Agreed. The problem is that holidays like christmas and easter are only religious for the religious. For everyone else, its just another holiday but because someone people don't want others celebrating whatever they believe, they have to ruin it for everyone else.
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I don't have kids, but as long as they weren't being indoctrinated I wouldn't give a toss what they celebrated. It's possible to celebrate religious holidays for non religious reasons. As an Atheist I see Christmas as a time to celebrate the spirit of love, togetherness, giving, and family.

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we never had egg hunts at school... and that was a good bit ago....

but seriously, people need to learn the history of holidays...

Christmas trees, lights and stuff are not religious... it is a pegan celebration of light during the darkest time of the year

"Easter Eggs" came from the whole spring rebirth of nature idea.... not jesus

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Holidays should be celebrated in a secular manner. That means that Christmas and Easter are fine but there shouldn't be any references to Jesus or Christianity outside of religious studies / social studies / history; the same applies to other celebrations like Chinese New Year.

I think banning the word 'Easter' is taking things too far.

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