Seasonal foolishness

Our tech problems last week prevented us from commenting on the furor in Mustang, a small town near Oklahoma City, where the Superintendent of Schools Karl Springer preemptively "cleaned up" the Christmas pageant of the song "Silent Night" and any other references to the holiday observed by over 90 percent of Oklahoma citizens. This, he said, to comply "with the law" separating church and state.

Oddly enough, the superintendent did not think references to Kwanzaa or Hanukah violated this "law" of separation.

Oddly too, no one had issued any complaint or threatened any protest of the Christmas program. Springer undertook the action on his own initiative after determining that a clear and present danger to the wall of separation existed. To hell with tradition, the preferences of the local taxpayers, parents and voters, and such time honored logic as "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Springer sprung into action.

Today there is good news to report: "Silent Night" made it back into the program thanks to a lot of publicity and protest, though the onstage Nativity scene was cut:

On Thursday, Springer told The Associated Press that he does not approve of students playing the Biblical roles of Mary, Joseph and the three wise men, which was planned as part of the original version of the play.

We suspect that Supt. Springer would have made a good Rudolph after the incident became an national embarrassment. What we do not know is whether anyone has informed him that there is no actual law establishing a wall of separation between religion and government. You sure won't find it in the U.S. Constitution.

Springer has promised to meet with the Mustang Ministerial Alliance to devise rules to govern future pageants. We hope they do their homework and educate the unfortunate superintendent as to the prevailing law, and regardless of his position, that they have the courage to insist that the rights of the Christian community be protected, as well as those of the ancient Kwanzans.

Finally, the incident only goes to show that you don't have to live in a blue state to encounter liberal woes. Eternal vigilance for everybody, we must sadly conclude.