By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead released a written statement on Friday regarding the decision by the principal at Madison’s Heritage Elementary School to censor the word Easter in order to promote “religious diversity” among the student body. Teachers were then forced to remove the word “Easter” from their planned Easter Egg hunt for the kids and scrub any reference to the religious events on which the holiday is based. After parents objected to principal Lydia Davenport’s censoring of both the Easter egg hunt and the Easter bunny, Madison City School Superintendent Dee Fowler over ruled and reversed the principal’s decision.
ALGOP Chairman Armistead said, “I would like to commend Madison City Schools Superintendent Dee Fowler for reinstating the use of the word “Easter” in Heritage Elementary School and all schools in the Madison City School System. The fact that the principal at Heritage Elementary School told the elementary children that they would no longer be able to use the word “Easter” when referring to their annual Easter egg hunt is appalling to me. Removing the word ‘Easter’ in the name of promoting ‘religious diversity’ are the code words that atheists and liberals have used to justify their attack on Christianity. This is the type of national liberalism we must fight here in Alabama and across our nation and I am saddened to see that Alabama made a national headline, “If Easter Can Be Banned in Alabama, It Can Be Banned Anywhere”. (Washington Times)”.
Armistead continued, “Atheists have tried to remove God from our currency, “Under God” from our Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments and Christmas manger scenes from public property. And, now an Alabama principal wants to remove Easter from an Easter celebration. It is time for God-fearing people all over this country to stand up and say “enough is enough”. We can no longer tolerate the dismantling of our Christian heritage.”
Armistead suggested that the hate campaign against Christians was not applied to other religions. Armistead said, “It is interesting to me that you never hear atheists complaining about Muslims worshiping Muhammed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran or even in America. And, of course, they teach Islam in their government schools. Even some schools in California are said to be teaching Islam. But, not Christianity. America needs to open its eyes to the dismantling of our Christian heritage. We are slowly losing our identity as a Christian nation (even though Barack Obama says we are not a Christian nation) and it is shocking to learn that a principal in Madison, Alabama pushed this week to further remove our school children from any association with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Armistead concluded, “As Christians celebrate Easter and its true meaning – the resurrection of Jesus Christ the son of God – we must be more vigilant than ever to stand up for our freedom to worship. Make no mistake about it, there are those right here in the United States of America who will continue their efforts to dismantle Christianity here and abroad. Christians are being persecuted every day in other parts of the world and we should not be surprised to see more evidence of persecuted Christians here in America unless we stand up for our right to worship Jesus Christ whose resurrection we are celebrating this weekend.”
Principal Lydia Davenport said about her controversial Easter Bunny policy, “Kids love the bunny. We just make sure we don’t say ‘the Easter bunny’ so that we don’t infringe on the rights of others because people relate the Easter bunny to religion; a bunny is a bunny and a rabbit is a rabbit.”
Superintendent Fowler said, “After a conversation, it was decided the hunt was not in violation of any policies or procedures, and that it could proceed as planned. This principal made an ‘ over-correction.’ Similar seasonal activities will continue in the school system going forward. This includes Easter egg hunts and exchanging Christmas gifts.”
