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| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2004-12-17》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎ 國際專題：學校與城市的基督戰爭 | |
| ◎ 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
| 國際專題：學校與城市的基督戰爭 | |
| 策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
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「小氣財神」、「鬼精靈」。今年，紐澤西的教育工作者被貼上這樣的標籤，因為他們決定禁止假期音樂會演奏基督教宗教音樂，維持政教分離。至於在丹佛，有信仰團體決定往另一個方向推動，對抗愈來愈世俗化的耶誕節：在每年例行的遊行禁止以宗教為主題的遊行花車後，他們加入了耶誕讚美頌歌「光之遊行」的遊行行列。 琳恩‧密絲雀塔是一位母親。她在5年前舉家搬到緬因州的史卡伯羅斯後，發現在當地耶誕節是個禁忌。不只耶誕節這樣，她從兒子的學校中學到不必為萬聖節盛裝打扮。而2月14日「情人節」也改名為「友誼節」了。使節慶價值崩盤的最後一根稻草，則是在9歲兒子一天從學校放學回家後對她說，要對同學說一聲「耶誕快樂」，讓他感到很不舒服。 「我們的孩子感覺很壓抑，他們對於要說出『耶誕快樂』幾個字感到很畏懼。」密絲雀塔說。因此，這個秋天密絲雀塔和另一名母親麗莎‧勞瑞，開始參加董事會議，並和校長、家長、和督學談論這件事情。她們架設了一個網站（www.bringbackchristmas.org），她們說，至少到現在，支持傳統節慶的聲音排山倒海而來。 多年來，橫跨全國的公立學校組織了耶誕頌歌團，並進行「秘密的耶誕老公公」禮物交換遊戲，有時候會讓猶太籍或是回教徒學生感到不適。隨著耶誕節的逼近，市政府也對用耶誕裝飾裝飾市府辦公室毫不遲疑。但是經過多年的訴訟後，愈來愈多學校和縣市政府開始減少這樣的慶祝方式，評論家說，這樣的結果讓耶誕佳節愈來愈商業化，而信仰和文化色彩愈來愈黯然失色了。 許多人同意，與其說耶誕節是「嬰兒誕生馬廄圖」的同義辭，不如說更接近「現金收銀機」的同義辭。在2000年時，蓋洛普的調查顯示，75％的美國人表示耶誕節的宗教意涵強調的並不夠，85％的人則認為這個節日過於商業化。 專家表示，全國已有許多學校開始增加慶祝的信仰性質，安排不同宗教的領袖人物到校給學生演講。他們也教育老師及職員關於如何教導宗教方面的事情。他們的節日音樂會在宗教及文化都十分多元。 學校禁止宗教活動，而非鼓勵所有信仰的原因，是這樣做比較容易。因為這樣的訴求一年中發生好幾次：許多基督徒抱怨萬聖節是異教徒慶祝的節日。而「學校通常會去走受到最少阻力的道路。」海尼斯說。他們通常會說：「好。我們會取消它。」 但是隨著時間過去。學校可能會更傾向去回應人口組成的改變。根據2003年蓋洛普調查顯示，95％的美國人慶祝耶誕節，但是其他宗教或是傳統，如回教的聖潔月齋戒以及非裔美國人的節慶活動「KWANZAA」（發音近似「匡酒」）也正在成為文化的一部份。 Grinch. Scrooge. These were the labels affixed to school administrators in New Jersey this year when they decided to ban religious Christmas music in the holiday concert lineup - an effort to maintain steadfast separation of church and state. In Denver a group of faithful decided to push in the other direction, fighting back against what they see as a growing secularization of Christmas. After a religious-themed float was banned from an annual parade, they joined forces to belt out carols (the kind about mangers, not mistletoe), as the "Parade of Lights" passed them by. Across the country, a battle for the soul of the public square is being waged this holiday season. The question: Has the quest for inclusiveness gone so far down the road of sensitivity that children might be forgiven for not knowing what holiday many Americans will celebrate on Dec. 25? People's answers depend largely on their position on the nation's liberal-conservative axis, but the debate goes beyond politics to emotions such as fond memories of singing carols or the awkwardness many non-Christians have felt at this season. The battle isn't new, but experts say it's been intensifying this year. The growing diversity of the population has played a part. An even bigger factor: the red-blue political divide fueled by election campaigns. "A good many conservative Christians have been emboldened in the last few years to try again ... to avail themselves of expressing their faith in public schools," says Charles Haynes, an expert on the debate over religion in the schools at the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va. "In the larger culture war over just how Christian a nation we are supposed to be, the school is a key battleground." Lynn Mistretta is one mother who has taken up arms. She found Christmas to be taboo in Scarborough, Maine., where she and her family moved five years ago. And it wasn't just Christmas. She learned that her son's class wouldn't be dressing up for Halloween. Then Valentine's Day was renamed Friendship Day. The last straw came when her 9-year-old returned home from school one day: He said he felt uncomfortable wishing his classmates a "Merry Christmas." "Our children are feeling really repressed, they are intimidated about saying 'Merry Christmas,'" says Ms. Mistretta. "Does anyone think this is what James Madison meant?" This fall Mistretta and another mother, Lisa Lowry, began attending board meetings and talking to principals, parents, and the superintendent. They set up a website, www.bringbackchristmas.org. They say support has been overwhelmingly in their favor, so far. For years, public schools across the country organized carol sings and "Secret Santa" gift exchanges, sometimes to the dismay of Jewish or Muslim students. City halls did not shy away from "decking their halls" as Dec. 25 inched closer. But after years of lawsuits that caused schools and local governments to pull back from such celebration, critics say the result has been a commercialization of the holiday season that overshadows both faith and culture. Many agree that Christmas has become synonymous with the cash register instead of the creche. In 2000, the last time the question was posed by the Gallup Organization, 75 percent of Americans said there is not enough emphasis on the religious basis of Christmas. Eight-five percent said the holiday was too commercialized. It's not just about religion for Mistretta and Lowry. In fact, neither sees the school as a place to indoctrinate children, they say. Nor is it tradition. Yes, Lowry says, she would like her children to share some of the childhood memories she recalls easily: a big Christmas trees right in the class, belting out carols with her classmates. But their fight is about cultural diversity, they say, and tolerance. "Whether you love it, hate it, or ignore it, it is," says Mistretta. "Do I want my children to hear in school that Christians celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ? Yes. Do I also accept that non-Christians don't [believe that]? Yes. But to sweep it under the rug breeds shame and disrespect." Some schools across the country have increasingly celebrated faith, say experts, bringing in various religious leaders to give lectures. They have educated staff members about how to teach religion. Their holiday concerts are multireligious and multicultural. But this is not always the norm. In school districts across the country, carols were outright banned this year like so many copies of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Barry Lynn, the executive director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says that's appropriate. "The other side calls it censorship," he says. "I call it a responsible effort to make no student feel like a second-class citizen in his/her own school." One reason that schools are quick to ban holidays instead of encourage the education of all faiths - as suggested by Haynes's Freedom Forum guidelines sent to schools across the country - is that it's easier. And it happens year-round. Some Christians complain that Halloween, for example, celebrates paganism. Schools often "take the path of least resistance," says Haynes. They'd rather say: "OK, we'll just cancel it." But over time, schools may be more inclined to incorporate some of these guidelines, as they respond to demographic shifts. True, 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to a 2003 Gallup poll. But other religions and traditions, from Ramadan to Kwanzaa, are increasingly part of the culture. Change can't come soon enough for Jim Finnegan, an activist with the God Squad, which has erected a life-size nativity scene in Chicago's Daley Center Plaza for nearly 20 years despite outcries from the American Civil Liberties Union and others. "The Christians seem to stay silent on this," he says. "But people are beginning to wake up." 聖靈耶穌這樣降生的 耶穌基督的降生是這樣的：耶穌的母親馬利亞許配了約瑟，他們還沒有成親，馬利亞就從聖靈懷了孕。她丈夫約瑟是個義人，不願張揚使她受辱，就打算暗中與她解除婚約。正想著這些事的時候，忽有主的一個使者向約瑟夢中顯現說︰「大衛的子孫約瑟啊，不要怕將你的妻子馬利亞娶過來；因為所生在她身裏的是從聖靈而來的。她必生個兒子，你要給他起名叫耶穌（即拯救），因為他必拯救他的人民脫離他們的罪。」這整件事的發生，是要應驗主藉著先知所說的：「必有童女懷孕生子，他的名要叫以馬內利。」以馬內利就是「神與我們同在」的意思。約瑟睡醒了起來，就照主的使者所吩咐他的去作，把他的妻子娶過來；等她生了兒子，才和她同房；就給兒子起名叫耶穌。 （資料來源╱馬太福音：網絡基督使團繁體新譯本） 耶誕節 最致命的節日 【編譯成怡夏整理報導】一項研究週一指出，耶誕節是美國人一年中最致命的一天，這一天的死亡率比平常多出了12.4％。報告指出，相較平日，耶誕節前後以及新年期間，美國人因心臟疾病和其他自然因素死亡率較高，這可能是因為人們在這段期間過於忙碌，或是過於歡樂，以致沒有在這個冬天假期中及時上醫院就診。 研究者之一，加州大學聖地牙哥分校社會學教授大衛‧飛利浦，和波士頓土甫特斯大學的同僚發現，在12月的14天假期中，因心臟病死亡的比例上升了4.65％；其他非心臟疾病的死亡率也上升約5個百分點。他們並沒有把因自殺、謀殺和意外死亡的人數算進去。 「我們發現，在冬季，心臟疾病和非心臟疾病造成的死亡率，都會達到高峰期，但是除了季節性的因素外，在耶誕節和新年期間還有其他讓死亡率增加的因素。」菲利浦說。整體來說，飛利浦和他的同僚發現，在26年間有超過4萬2千樁「額外的」死亡在耶誕佳節中發生。只有1973年和1981年兩年沒有這種現象。其中，1971年是因為油價飆漲，人們減少出外旅行的頻率；而1981年則是嚴重的經濟倒退，假期中人們都待在家裡。 飛利浦說：「我們嘗試找出衝擊的原因，結果發現只有兩樣因素是跟我們的資料相吻合的。一個是人們傾向在這段時間延遲對於疾病症狀的治療；另一個則是在假期期間中，通常醫療人員會替換，結果，造成醫療照顧的品質因妥協而降低。」這項報告發現，心臟疾病病患在冬季送到醫院時比一般日子更容易死亡。這是因為無論是診所、急診室和其他健康機構，在這段期間都並非以最高效能的方式運轉。 （資料來源╱路透社） 第一張耶誕卡 An undated handout photograph, released November 24, 2004, shows the World's first commercial Christmas Card. The card, one of 1000 copies printed, was designed by British narrative painter John Horsley and is said to have been made for the grandmother of his friend Sir Henry Cole, depicting his family enjoying Christmas dinner. Designed in 1840, the card went on sale in 1843 at a cost of one shilling. It is expected to fetch between 4-6000 pounds. REUTERS/HO |
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| 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
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