Education

Christian school dropping ‘Crusaders’ mascot to keep from offending Muslims

crusadersFor 65 years, Denver Christian Schools used the mascot “Crusaders,” but that’s all about to change.  Although CEO Todd Lanting says it’s not about political correctness, the change is being made because some might find it offensive to Muslims, EAG News reported Tuesday.

“In our mission, in light of the command to love our neighbors as ourselves, the crusader was an inconsistent, inappropriate symbol for that mission,” Lanting told KUSA.

EAG added:

After using the Crusaders mascot for 65 of the school’s 100 year history, officials in November began to solicit ideas for a new symbol, and have since narrowed it down to two possibilities: Thunder and Trailblazers.

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The problem with the old name is that “a lot of people were concerned about the association with the crusades, a series of wars between Christians and Muslims,” according to the news site.

Lanting insists the change is not an effort to align with political correctness.

“This has nothing to do with political correctness,” he said. “It’s got everything to do with love and empathy for our neighbors.”

But that’s not what some are saying on Facebook.

This is where it all starts…cave in to a few letters who complained, and go through a name change to appease a small minority, while throwing the history and all those who studied under this banner, under the bus. Why should anyone cave in to political ‘incorrectness’. If a ‘word’ offends someone, then simply don’t go there. There is nothing offensive about the word ‘crusaders’, what about Batman? Isn’t he called, ‘the caped crusader’? Should we all ban Batman now too? Where does this nonsense end?” one person said.

Another person added:

As an alumni of DC, it’s hard to fathom that the school my grandparents, parents, and myself can’t see the tradition and history that made the school what it was/is. The biggest mistake the school administration ever made, was by making it a business, see CEO. Please instead of changing the mascot, change the entire name of the school and let Denver Christian Schools retire gracefully. Lakewood Community Trailblazers perhaps?

What say you? Is the school bowing to political correctness?  After 65 years, should it change its mascot?  Let us know in the comments below.

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Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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