Primary school tells pupils to say ‘Baby Boy Jesus’ instead of ‘Lord Jesus’ while singing Away In A Manger

Dec 15, 2019 by Jill

by Mark Hookham, Mail on Sunday:

Children at a primary school have been told not to sing the word ‘Lord’ in the Christmas carol Away In A Manger – so that pupils of all beliefs can join in.

The move has left Christian parents appalled, after the head teacher ruled that children should sing ‘baby boy Jesus’ rather than ‘little Lord Jesus’.

The word ‘Lord’ features five times in the most common version of Away In A Manger and expresses the belief that Jesus is divine.

Youngsters at Whitehall Primary School in Chingford, Essex, have also been told to sing edited versions of two modern hymns when they attend a carol service and nativity play at a nearby church on Tuesday.

The words ‘Jesus the saviour’ in the carol Love Shone Down have been replaced with ‘Jesus the baby’, while the words ‘new King born today’ in the carol Come And Join The Celebration have been replaced with ‘a baby born today’.

One furious mother, a former Metropolitan Police officer, said the changes were utterly unacceptable and likened it to taking ‘Christ’ out of Christmas.

The mother, 36, said: ‘If he was just a baby boy named Jesus, there wouldn’t be a celebration in the first place. He is our Lord and Saviour and King of all Kings – that’s the whole point.

‘It is also a tradition – it is taking away the traditions of the country.’

Read here

See also: Removing ‘Lord Jesus’ from the nativity, from Christian Concern

The context and content of the Nativity, by Jonathan Tame, Jubilee Centre