These people literally take the fun out of everything. Cornell University has just issued a guide to “inclusive” Christmas decorations, if you can believe it. In it, they do their darnedest to eradicate Christianity from all aspects of the holiday. No mistletoe, no stars, nothing that would evoke religion. And they mean Christianity, of course. It’s just not ‘diverse’ enough. These guidelines were in a fire safety PDF which The Daily Caller linked to along with Campus Reform. It has since been taken down. Imagine that. They got caught. The second half of the manual was all about making Christmas more “inclusive.” What a bunch of Grinches.
From The Daily Caller:
A guide to “inclusive” Christmas decorations created by Cornell University warns that any decorations that remotely evoke religion, which includes stars and mistletoe, are incompatible with the school’s commitment to diversity.
The guidelines are buried inside a Cornell publication concerning fire safety guidelines for holiday decorations, and were first noticed by the website Campus Reform. The first half of the document concerns certain banned fire hazards, such as candles and metallic Christmas trees.
The second half of the document, though, veers off into a discussion of how to make the Christmas season more “inclusive.”
“University members are reminded to be respectful of the religious diversity of our students and colleagues and are encouraged to use an inclusive approach in celebrating the holiday season,” the document says. Students are encouraged to be more “diverse” by either focusing on winter instead of Christmas or by including decorations for multiple holidays alongside secular decorations.
The university then rattles off a list of decorations that are “NOT consistent” with the school’s “commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.” The discouraged decorations include the following:
-Nativity scenes
-Menorahs
-Angels
-Mistletoe
-Stars (when placed on top of trees)
-Crosses
-Stars of David
While the religious connotations of nativity scenes or Stars of David is rather obvious, it’s not clear why mistletoe is considered as possibly offensive.
The schools says that holly, Santa Clauses, and wreaths might be acceptable decorations, but only after “dialogue within [a] living unit or area” to ensure nobody is offended.
Universities around the country have been issuing Christmas guidelines aimed at discouraging the display of religious symbols. A recent guidance email at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, for instance, warned against letting holiday parties become “Christmas parties in disguise” and discouraged using terms such as “Secret Santa” because they could offend people.
So, if they got their way, there would be no more babe in a manger. Which I believe was the whole point of Christmas. Just sayin’. There would be no more Menorahs… can’t have Jews celebrating Hanukkah, now can we? No more angels, crosses or Stars of David either. But if you have a Quran handy and a prayer rug, you would probably fit right in. Or maybe a Gaia idol. Satanism is cool with these guys too, so check… they are acceptable. Atheists, anarchists and communists are of course welcomed. Next on the chopping block is Santa Clause, wreaths and holly. Well, we could always celebrate a pagan solstice, right? This is outrageous. If you have a child at a school that does this, get them out of there. No education is worth your soul or your constitutional freedoms. Shame on Cornell University and the others.
Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at NoisyRoom.net. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - trevorloudon.com. She also does research at KeyWiki.org. You can email Terresa here. NoisyRoom can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.