Prometheus The Supremo
►Member №41+⅜◄
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- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
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- a strange reality, bizarro toronto
reminds me of ...."santa doesn't leave presents under the bodhi tree"
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/22/nxmas522.xml
Boy without faith banned from Christmas party
By Kate Devlin
Last Updated: 3:11am GMT 22/12/2007
A boy of nine was banned from his class Christmas party because he is not religious.
Douglas Stewart should have been enjoying ice cream and jelly with his friends and receiving a present. Instead, he stayed at home in tears.
The school said that he could not attend because he had been withdrawn from religious education classes.
His mother, Dawn Riddell, 38, said her son was "heartbroken" at the school's decision. He had been looking forward to his class's party for weeks, she said.
But just hours before it was to take place, she received a call from Ian Davidson, the head teacher of Cluny Primary, in the tiny village of Buckie, Banffshire, in north-east Scotland, to say that her son was not welcome.
She said: "Douglas had come home to get changed for the party. No one had said anything to him so as far as he knew he was going. He was really upset when I told him he couldn't go back to school. He just lay on the rug and cried." She said it was "cruel" for him to be excluded.
"It doesn't make any sense to me. I've helped out at the Christmas party before and it's got absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. It's all about the kids getting excited about Santa and enjoying themselves. If it had been something like a nativity play then I could understand.
"But Christmas parties are totally different. They're not all about religion or Jesus."
Douglas said: "People put up Christmas trees at Christmas. They're not religious so why would a party be religious?"
Earlier this year, the family, which is not religious, had decided to request that Douglas and his elder brother Callum, 11, be exempt from the classes. At the time, Mr Davidson contacted the family to warn that the children could miss out on fun activities, but the family decided to go ahead with their decision.
With Callum due to attend his class's Christmas party, their mother contacted the council to find out their policy. The education department confirmed that Christmas parties were not religious.
Mr Davidson called later to apologise and said that Douglas's exclusion had been a "misunderstanding". He was given a present that Father Christmas had left for him while Callum was allowed to attend his class's party. A spokesman for Moray council said that the problem had been resolved.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/22/nxmas522.xml
Boy without faith banned from Christmas party
By Kate Devlin
Last Updated: 3:11am GMT 22/12/2007
A boy of nine was banned from his class Christmas party because he is not religious.
Douglas Stewart should have been enjoying ice cream and jelly with his friends and receiving a present. Instead, he stayed at home in tears.
The school said that he could not attend because he had been withdrawn from religious education classes.
His mother, Dawn Riddell, 38, said her son was "heartbroken" at the school's decision. He had been looking forward to his class's party for weeks, she said.
But just hours before it was to take place, she received a call from Ian Davidson, the head teacher of Cluny Primary, in the tiny village of Buckie, Banffshire, in north-east Scotland, to say that her son was not welcome.
She said: "Douglas had come home to get changed for the party. No one had said anything to him so as far as he knew he was going. He was really upset when I told him he couldn't go back to school. He just lay on the rug and cried." She said it was "cruel" for him to be excluded.
"It doesn't make any sense to me. I've helped out at the Christmas party before and it's got absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. It's all about the kids getting excited about Santa and enjoying themselves. If it had been something like a nativity play then I could understand.
"But Christmas parties are totally different. They're not all about religion or Jesus."
Douglas said: "People put up Christmas trees at Christmas. They're not religious so why would a party be religious?"
Earlier this year, the family, which is not religious, had decided to request that Douglas and his elder brother Callum, 11, be exempt from the classes. At the time, Mr Davidson contacted the family to warn that the children could miss out on fun activities, but the family decided to go ahead with their decision.
With Callum due to attend his class's Christmas party, their mother contacted the council to find out their policy. The education department confirmed that Christmas parties were not religious.
Mr Davidson called later to apologise and said that Douglas's exclusion had been a "misunderstanding". He was given a present that Father Christmas had left for him while Callum was allowed to attend his class's party. A spokesman for Moray council said that the problem had been resolved.
