Posted on 12/20/2006 4:54:27 PM PST by Coleus
BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y., December 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Village of Briarcliff Manor officials have decided to remove their entire holiday display, including a 9-foot-tall menorah, from a public park rather than allow a resident to add a crèche after Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and allied attorneys won a temporary restraining order Friday from a federal judge. The lawsuit and TRO motion were filed Dec. 11 after the Briarcliff Manor Village's Board of Trustees refused to permit the display.
"The village's constitutional violations regarding religious expression in public make them look like the grinches who stole Christmas and Chanukah from the citizens of Briarcliff Manor," said ADF-allied attorney John Stepanovich. "It is truly sad that officials have chosen not only to thumb their noses at religion but at the justice system as well, since our client's request of equal access for a privately-funded crèche in addition to the menorah was entirely constitutional."
In place of where the holiday display once stood, village officials displayed a sign criticizing U.S. District Judge William C. Conner's decision to grant the temporary restraining order. The federal court judge's decision forced officials to either remove the menorah or grant resident Henry Ritell's request to display a nativity scene alongside it.
The sign read, "The Village erected a menorah and Christmas tree display in a spirit of inclusion. In response to a federal court order the entire display has been removed. We disagree with the court." Following outcry from the public, village officials removed the sign.
That's what Liberty means.
Fascinating. And yet so irrelevant.
I thought you were out of here? It looks as though you love this thread.
Yup.
I know. It's a loaded word in our days. Was the term used for Israel during the Second Temple period?
http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/meaning.html
The law is stupid.
The courts have ruled that if public officials allow a display by one religion they cannot exclude any other religion that wants to put up a display.
The courts won't change their ruling unless it is shown to be stupid-by these stupid suits.
"The law is an ass", you have to beat sense into it sometimes.
The tree is now a religion?
You were right though, other than Ha'aertz, no one has picked the story up. It's as though it didn't happen.
Not something I'm an authority on, but I think the Feast of Dedication referred to in John was Hanukah.
Yeah, probably part of some ancient pagan winter-solstice related shin-dig. But a lot of christians in the world do associate pine trees with one of the holidays on the christian calendar. I guess that means that evergreens everywhere should be cut down and burnt all over the country to prevent the establishment of religion.
I wouldn't go so far as to damn anybody. Not that I can, really. Or tell God what to do for that matter. Majoritarianism, putting everything up for a vote, is a dumb idea. The town or whoever might be abusing their power a little, but it seems to me that the people who have a legitimate complaint are the taxpayers who object to paying the court room electric bill for this fiasco to continue.
That is just a ridiculous argument. It is called a CHRISTmas tree, for heavens sake.
It seems that this year is a pivtoal time for the transformation of the Christmas tree into a "religious symbol".
It is really an incredibly beautiful place, as is much of Westchester County. These places are quite old and have actual histories: not like the "made up" "communities" one finds in so much of our great land.
I lived there from 70 to 75 and they sure were not even close to pure "WASP" then..........
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