Posted on 12/23/2009 9:10:48 AM PST by markomalley
SAN FRANCISCO — It was the week before Christmas when Irv Sutley, a former warehouse worker, first saw the offending ornament in a government building in Sonoma County, just north of here.
“I was turning around in the lobby, and I noticed the tree,” Mr. Sutley said. “And then, I noticed the angel.”
Mr. Sutley, an atheist, said he then went to the office of the county Board of Supervisors. “And there was a star,” he said.
Technically, neither stars nor angels belong to any particular religion. But to the mind of Mr. Sutley, 65, a veteran who has fought to keep religion out of public meetings and buildings, the symbolism was clear.
“For most people, a star atop a tree at this time of season represents the star of Bethlehem, which is a cult symbol, the cult being Christianity,” he said, adding that the government should be neutral on religion.
Sonoma County officials conferred with their lawyers, and on Monday the acting county administrator, Chris Thomas, asked county departments to remove stars, angels or any other religious symbols “so that we can celebrate the season yet not appear to endorse Christian or other religious doctrines.”
Mr. Thomas cited a 1989 Supreme Court decision, Allegheny v. A.C.L.U., which stated that while Christmas trees could be seen as secular, they could also be seen as religious if decorated with religious symbols.
All of which pleased Mr. Sutley, who said he had found about a half-dozen stars on other trees around the building in Santa Rosa. He said he found none in the social services department, in which he found a religious placard during the holidays last year. (It, too, was removed.)
(Excerpt) Read more at elpasoinc.com ...
Then he noticed his straight ticket to H@LL! Leave us alone, d@mn you atheist.
Atheist killjoy ping
Some kind old Christian should stick a star up this “veteran’s” ass.
SIX STARS?????? THANK GOD HE STOPPED THIS FORCING OF RELIGION DOWN OUR THROATS! The gaul of the city to add stars to a Christmas tree! Next year they might be so bold as to add candy canes. THE HORROR!!!!!!
So he just turned around a “saw” the offening star? And found something that offended him last year? What loser trolls city buildings looking to be offended?
Obviously he doesn't understand anything the Supreme Court has ever said.
What a jerk. Goes around looking for things he decides are offensive. Why can’t private citizens display their own property in a public workplace?
Sounds like Moscow on the Bay.
But this a$$wipe has no problem with the 50 stars on the flag he fought for?
Keep his no-god god worldview out of the workplace too.
The same text that says the government cannot establish a state religion cannot use the power of the state to block or ridicule same beliefs.
The atheist supremacists seek to make atheism the only promoted religious view by the State.
The removal and total absence of a star is a statement of his beliefs. But, of course, he wouldn’t see it as that.
Won’t California be falling off into the ocean soon? All that stupid weighs too much.
Apparently California chooses atheism and Californian Americans are pleased to deny God and our Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religious expression.
Obama’s White House tree has a portrait of Mao, a portrait of a transexual, and Obama pictured on Mt. Rushmore.
Maybe that is the god this man wants.
Sing some new carols:
“I’ll have a RED Christmas, comrade...”
“Christmas in the gulag...”
"Thats like simply describing hitler as a former WW1 veteran. Google this guy! He was accused in a murder for hire plot, provided a gun to someone accused in a terrorist attack on a US military base, and was a member of the communist party. Do your homework on this loser!"
What season would that be?
First day of winter? How long have the decorations been up?
Will they come down at the end of winter?
When will the spring season decorations go up?
Mr. Sutley has been traumatized by the sight of a star. Poor Mr. Sutley requires hospitalization (whether he wants it or not). It must be a living hell to be a Mr. Sutley. How can he make it through the day? So sensitive, offended at every turn. Mr. Sutley how can you make it through something like Thursday? Do you know that Thursday is named after a pagan god? We are surrounded by religious symbolism. You must be tearing your hair out. I will pray for you.
See also:
California Official Orders Removal of Christmas Angel After Complaint
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413797/posts
(NOT duplicate, another article on the same topic from a different source)
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