When “Diversity” = Bigotry

Here is a sample of how diversity is being celebrated this December:

· Elementary school students in Plainfield, Illinois are decorating a “Holiday” tree that represents 18 countries.

· A “Holiday Revelry” will be performed at the Framingham Civic League in Massachusetts; it is a “multicultural” event that includes “PAC Sword Dancers” and “traditional” Christmas songs such as “Pat-A-Pan.”

· “Winter Traditions” will be celebrated at the Fort Collins Museum in Colorado. They include “Celebrations of Light” that highlight “traditions, cultures and celebrations from across the world.”

· At a high school in Ocean City, Maryland, the annual “Winter Concert” this year will feature a performance entitled “Eid Mubarak,” a Muslim holiday song.

· At the Comcast Center in Philadelphia there will be a huge “Multimedia Holiday Show” featuring secular songs. Religious Christmas songs are expressly prohibited.

· At Missouri State University, a new school rule explicitly bans the menorah and the nativity scene from being displayed in common areas. Nonetheless, the menorah is displayed; the crèche is not.

· At an architectural firm in Wichita, Kansas there will be no Christmas party. But there will be a party. The CEO says, “we call our December party a holiday party.”

Darby Herrington, a Colorado lawyer, wrote a column defending these kinds of things. According to her, “People of other religions tend to harbor some ill feelings toward all things Christmas.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue offered his thoughts:

“Cultural fascists invoke ‘diversity’ every December as cover for neutering Christmas—they never choose some other month to practice their multicultural religion. And by the way, who are these people from other religions who hate Christmas? I never met one. It would be more accurate to say that it’s precisely the persons who make this charge who hate Christmas.”

Susan A. Fani is the Director of Communications for the Catholic League. This press release was originally issued on December 4, 2008.