The organizers of a Christmas parade in Tennessee angered many on the left after they included a statement of faith in their parade application.

For decades, folks young and old have gathered for the annual Christmas parade in Cookeville, Tennessee, a city of 35,000 residents about an hour and a half east of Nashville. In recent years, the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit, hosted the event.

However, in 2024, a private group mainly comprising members of local churches took over the event. In keeping with the season honoring the birth of Jesus Christ and this year's theme of "Celebrating the Light of CHRISTmas," organizers included in the parade application a statement of faith that recounts basic tenets of Christianity.

The statement of faith affirms belief in Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, the circumstances surrounding His birth, and the primacy of the Bible.

The statement also reiterates Christian teaching on social matters, including gender, marriage, and the dignity of the human person:

• "Marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female."
• "God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage."
• "God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society."
• "Human life is sacred from conception to its natural end."

'Maybe the church groups involved just didn’t want to catch gay cooties.'

Contrary to reports, those submitting an application to participate in the parade need not personally believe everything listed in the statement of faith. Instead, the application asks only that they initial below the statement to acknowledge that they have read and understood it.

The application further requires all participants in the parade to "act in alignment" with the statement of faith to keep the event family-friendly.

Thus far, Cookeville officials have seemingly washed their hands of the parade and the organizers' statement of faith.

"The City had nothing to do with the handoff to this group and still has nothing to do with the production or operation of the Christmas parade. The private group simply applied for a temporary street closure for a parade, as any other private group is permitted to do and as any kind of parade-type event requires," city officials said in a statement posted to Facebook.

"It is extremely unfortunate that something like a Christmas parade has become such a controversial event in this day and time, but the City of Cookeville government is not involved with this event at all. Any requirements by this private group concerning participation in the parade are not enforced by, are not approved by, and should not be attributed to the City of Cookeville."

A Substack called the Friendly Atheist went farther, describing the statement of faith as a form of "bigotry" and insisting that the parade is "no longer a celebration of the holidays" because of it.

"The event has become even more explicitly Christian," the atheist writer railed. "Jews are not welcome. Atheists and Muslims and LGBTQ people are not wanted."

The word holiday, of course, derives from the concept of a "holy day" on the Christian calendar.

Cookeville resident Antonio Pedro is likewise appalled by Christians adopting a Christian statement of faith for a Christian event. He and others, including the owner of a "little witchy shop" in Cookeville, have attempted to organize a more "inclusive" counter-event "to get the Christmas parade to what it once was to where the community comes together as a community and not just a religion."

One reason they and other leftists are so incensed that Christians control this year's Christmas parade is that Upper Cumberland Pride — a local group of sexual deviants, according to biblical standards — was denied the privilege of participating in it last year.

"It was stated when asked why that they saw it as 'a kid/family event' [and] that we might not be kid/family-friendly,'" UCP told WKRN.

UCP characterized the denial as a capricious act of exclusion, but in fact, even a secular group like the chamber of commerce was right to be wary of UCP's participation in a Christmas parade meant for children and families.

"Our theme was 'Don we now our gay apparel.' We were planning to come out in contour [sic] fashion and voguing," said Upper Cumberland Pride president Jessica Patterson, according to the Friendly Atheist.

"Oh no! Voguing! It’s the leading cause of death for children if you ignore guns and pools and peanuts!" the Friendly Atheist sneered. "Did they think the voguing would injure someone? ... Maybe the church groups involved just didn’t want to catch gay cooties."

Blaze News reached out to the current parade organizers but did not receive a response.

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