A Christmas Holiday Festival in Mt. Pleasant

If Scrooge were a modern day character the Ghost of Christmas Present could march the contemporary version of the classic old fart right into the school board offices of the Mt. Pleasant School District where bitter tea could be enjoyed over crumpets and mutual grumblings of the tortuous Christmas season.

According to a news report this morning delivered by Scott Michael Trager at 9/10 News, the Mt. Pleasant Dickens Christmas Festival has had a name change to the Mt. Pleasant Dickens Holiday Festival. Why? Because local school officials refused to allow dissemination of information about the festival to school children without the name change.

What remains unclear is if the policy was applied to festival materials because certain people feared an establishment clause issue—where a student might become a state-forced victim of Christian brainwashing by touching the offending paper, or if someone is only running interference so no offense need be suffered by cranky atheists from the mere recognition of Christ's name at a festival ostensibly organized around a holiday that celebrates Jesus' birth.

The blame may not rest upon the shoulders of any school employee as this might be an issue forced upon them by a third party. Regardless, it is testament to a sad trend in American life and a reason to get children out of public education.

No word yet on whether school district librarians have been forced to pull copies of A Christmas Carol off the shelves.