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Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
- Albert Einstein
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French pretzel logic and pagan Christmas trees
Carolina Morning News
Thursday 23 December 2004, 12:14 pm
Keywords: Christian Topics
, News Articles
By Jennifer Royse
Recently France has passed legislation designed to create a sharp distinction between church and state.
In a bold, well-planned move to prevent young Muslim women from wearing headscarves in school, the French government passed a law banning all conspicuous religious symbols in schools.
Just what exactly is a "conspicuous religious symbol"? To be fair, along with the aforementioned scarves, the ban does include the use of Jewish skullcaps and the wearing of obviously large crucifixes. So the law does manage to smack three of the world's major religions square in the face.
Lagny-Sur-Marne, near Paris, boasts a high school where students were apparently aware of the law banning conspicuous religious symbols. They complained that the school's Christmas tree was certainly a conspicuous Christian image and therefore should be removed.
Officials momentarily stymied by the students' impeccable logic had the offensive pine (or fir) removed last week.
The Christmas tree is back, and apparently is not in violation of French law. Turns out that a Christmas tree isn't really a conspicuous symbol of Christianity. It's pagan, therefore appropriate for placement in French schools.
Pascal Pagny, mayor of Lagny-Sur-Marne, told Radio Europe 1 that "The tree was a symbol of year-end festivities long before Christianity existed. It is completely secular and pagan."
http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/122204/LOCvecinos.shtml
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