The so-called woke culture continues to oppose all things Christmas, and it seems nothing is safe, not even a song that dates back to 1882. A school in London has actually taken to changing the lyrics to the Christian Christmas song Away in a Manger to secularize the song and increase its inclusivity, underscoring once more that the SJW agenda is driven by anti-Christian sentiment.
Away in a Manger is one of the most celebrated Christmas songs amongst Christians, as it reverently tells the story of the Nativity and the first Christmas. The lyrics emphasize the importance of the birth of Jesus Christ by referring to the baby Jesus as our “Lord:”
Away in a manger
No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down His sweet head…
There’s no mention of Santa, Rudolph, snowmen, or any of the more “secular” Christmas traditions that have enabled the Christmas holiday to be more easily celebrated by non-Christians.
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Fox News reports Whitehall Primary School in East London, under the guidance of the school’s head teacher, Zakia Khatun, has replaced the words “little Lord” in the song with “baby boy” to make the song less offensive. The new lyrics are “baby boy Jesus” instead of “little Lord Jesus,” the Daily Mail writes.
The lyrics have also been changed in two other modern Christmas songs to be performed at the school’s celebration.
The Daily Mail reports,
The words “Jesus the saviour” in the carol Love Shone Down have been replaced with “Jesus the baby,” while the words “new King born today” in the carol Come And Join The Celebration have been replaced with “a baby born today.”
According to Khatun, 60 of the 500 students at Whitehall Primary did not attend last year’s Nativity Tuesday celebration due to their religious beliefs. Khatun contends the changes will allow “all pupils” to participate in the annual Nativity this year.
In other words, 12 percent of the school population is powerful enough to impact what happens to the other 88 percent of the students in the school. How is that fair?
And frankly, even if it was the other way around — if 88 percent of the students did not celebrate Christmas and 12 percent did — it would still be unjust. Individual religious liberties should never be at the behest of the majority.
Still, Christianity appears to be the only religion that is up for grabs by the “woke” warriors, even where it is the overwhelming majority. After all, what have the SJWs done to make Ramadan a more inclusive holiday? Hanukkah? Kwanza?
Absolutely nothing.
That observation has not gone unnoticed by the parents at Whitehall, who are understandably angered by the change to the lyrics.
“If he was just a baby boy named Jesus, there wouldn’t be a celebration in the first place,” one mother told the Daily Mail. “He is our Lord and Saviour and King of all Kings — that’s the whole point. Ms. Khatun doesn’t want the people who don’t have the same beliefs to feel excluded, yet it’s okay to exclude Christians,” the mother said.
Other parents view Khatun’s efforts as emblematic of the war on Christmas.
One mother told the group Christian Concern, “I am taking this stand as Christian belief and tradition, which means so much to so many people of all generations, is being sacrificed and silenced in the name of inclusion and political correctness.”
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of the Church of England notes if the school’s intention is to be more inclusive, it simply must permit students who did not wish to participate in the song to opt out. Changing the lyrics in the song, in an effort to be more inclusive to non-Christians, makes the song less inclusive to the school’s Christian students.
“The words ‘the Lord Jesus’ occur three times in the carol and point to the central message of Christmas which is: God is with us in Jesus. Everything in the Church, where the Nativity play is being held, points to this central truth of the Christian Faith,” the bishop said. “If parents do not wish their children to participate in a Christian Nativity play and any accompanying worship, they should be able to opt out and the school should provide an alternate activity for such children. But basic Christian teaching should not be changed just to accommodate everybody.”
Unfortunately, despite the backlash against Khatun’s change, the school defends the move, claiming it simply makes the celebration “accessible to all our children to participate in, together, as one.”
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