http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/14/silent-night-fraud
War on Christmas Fraud Exposed: The Silent Night "Rewrite" That Wasn’t
On Friday, Bill O’Reilly took to the airwaves to share the latest "War
on Christmas" outrage:
In Dodgeville, Wisconsin, the Ridgewood Elementary School has changed
the song Silent Night to Cold in the Night and forced the kids to sing
the lyrics, "Cold in the night, No one in sight, Winter winds whirl
and bite," to the tune of the original Silent Night.
O’Reilly was by no means the only conservative to repeat this story.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Beliefs/story?id=1387602
During a Dec. 10 appearance on Fox News, Mathew Staver of the Liberty
Counsel said the presentation at Ridgewood Elementary had "no balance
here. They have no Christian Christmas carols." http://www.lc.org/
He even threatened to sue the school:
People are outraged.
We sent a demand letter asking them to immediately change the song and
allow the actual lyrics of "Silent Night," and if they do not, if they
insist on this ridiculous course of action, we’ll file a federal
lawsuit.
As it turns out, the entire story is a fraud.
Ridgewood Elementary didn’t change the lyrics to "Silent Night."
What they did was perform a 1988 copyrighted play called "The Little
Tree’s Christmas Gift." http://delrich.home.mindspring.com/tree.html
That play actually contains numerous songs about Christmas, including
the grand finale, an audience-led group singing of "We Wish You A
Merry Christmas."
The play’s creator, Dwight Elrich
http://delrich.home.mindspring.com/dwah.html, happens to lead the New
Covenant Singers of Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.
http://www.piercecollege.com/departments/music/facultyStaffFiles/elrich.html
In fact, "The Little Tree’s Christmas Gift" has been performed in
several churches, including the Oakwood Forest Christian Church in
Kingsport, Tennessee,
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/AldersgateUMCMI/news01-3.html the St. Anthony
Parish School in Des Moines, Iowa,
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780927/23052980.html and St.
Mark’s Episcopal Church of Abeline, Texas.
http://texnews.com/religion97/local121397.html
So why are the Silent Night lyrics changed in "Little Tree’s
Christmas"?
Because the play is about a small, lonely Christmas tree that is told
it is "too scraggly, it will never sell."
http://delrich.home.mindspring.com/tree.html
That character sings the revised lyrics -- "Cold in the night, No one
in sight, Winter winds whirl and bite" -- in a scene lamenting his sad
state.
The rewording has absolutely nothing to do with "secularizing" the
song.
Sorry, Virginia, there is no "War on Christmas."
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I know it's a waste dwelling on this nonsense, but couldn'r resist the
exposure of fat-***** blowhard O'Lielly.
Harry
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