Parents were left outraged after school officials told their children they weren’t allowed to say ‘Lord Jesus’ while singing a Christmas carol in order to be inclusive of students of other religions.
The incident happened at Whitehall Primary School in Essex, England, where the children were told to replace the phrase Lord Jesus With Baby Boy Jesus when singing Christmas carol called ‘Away In A Manger.’
While the word ‘Lord’ makes its appearance in the song several times, the school officials said it should be avoided to promote inclusiveness.
However, parents weren’t happy with this decision, whereas many claimed that the changes to the song are inappropriate because “you can’t take LORD Christ out of a Christmas song.”
“If he was just a baby boy named Jesus, there wouldn’t be a celebration in the first place. He is our Lord and Savior and King of all Kings – that’s the whole point,” one upset mother said.
“It is also a tradition – it is taking away the traditions of the country. My kids are being stopped from having the freedom to express their beliefs. They are shocked.”
During the mum’s meeting with headteacher Zakia Khatun, the latter allegedly defended the school’s decision and claimed that sixty kids didn’t attend the Christmas celebration last year due to finding the carol service offensive.
However, as the 36-year-old mum said, plenty of parents agree with her that Christian students are now being discriminated against by not being allowed to freely express their beliefs.
“We live in a multicultural society, so we should respect other beliefs but unfortunately Christianity is not getting respect,” we added.
“Ms Khatun doesn’t want the people who don’t have the same beliefs to feel excluded, yet it’s OK to exclude Christians.”
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Replaced!