Posted on 12/11/2010 9:03:53 AM PST by van_erwin
Holiday decorations can easily become controversial because Christmas is both a national and a religious holiday, and anything that refers to Christmas can feel like an alien symbol being forced upon a non-Christian population, said Jack Santino, a professor in the department of popular culture at Bowling Green State University.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Well just leave if you do not like it.
...and if walking by something makes it feel "forced upon" you, then I have bad news for various forms of Islamonuttiness...and burkas are definitely our of here.
In my office, we have a ceramic Christmas tree (rescued from a random storage room). Snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, tinsel with little green and red ornaments hanging in the windows.
On Monday, next to the tree, I will set up a Nativity scene.
On the table with the tree and Nativity will be a card, which says: “These Christmas decorations represent my feelings about Christmas. They help me to “be of good cheer” during this busy, stressful time of year. They are in no way meant to influence you, your religion or lack thereof. Any attempt on your part to portray this display as a violation of the separation of church and state clause of the Constitution will be met with the following:
1. I will school you on the constitution.
2. I will say “Dude, seriously? You really wanna sue the Prosecuting Attorney’s office?! Bring it!”
(Oh, did I forget to mention that I work in a totally government building, and at some level, actually work for the State? LOL! And, to top it all, our entire office is either Christian or Catholic (not that I consider there a difference, but some do) and we frequently talk about biblical issues. I love my job...where I am allowed to express my beliefs. Hey, wow, that kinda sounds like the America we all want, doesn’t it?)
What I found interesting from the article is that Lefrak City is now known as LeFrak City.
Kinda like building a mosque near Ground Zero.
I am an art teacher in the state of Texas. I am also a committed Christian who has been instructed that I may not introduce ANY art project that has any reference to Christmas. As all public schools in Texas, we have a mid-winter break to celebrate what used to be Christmas. How long will God tarry in His judgement of this outrageous hypocracy? How sad it makes me to be part of it for a lousy paycheck.
And that’s from Basement Cat!
I so totally agree!
Now that's America in a nutshell right there folks.
As we always had a creche with the Holy Family under the tree and Baby Jesus ornaments on the tree, you couldn’t define our tree anyway but as a Christian Symbol.
Nice! I don’t know how you get done all you get done! You are the epitome of the description of the good wife in the Bible — worth more than pearls. Something like that. Here it is:
Proverbs 31:10-31 ESV
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. ...
My daughter is a music teacher in her first year at a Catholic school and delighted to be free of such restraints on her music. How can you take the Christian out of classic music? Not that she's averse to teaching the kids music from other cultures, but you can't remove Christmas out of Catholic, or catholic, music.
You are very kind ... thank you.
I was thinking of you over Thanksgiving in South Carolina. They were picking cotten (mechanized) in the fields across from my son and jamming the fluff into those modules like you showed us on your place. I’ve never seen that method before. It was fascinating and far different from what I grew up with in California. Much neater, and I should think that the recovery percentage is better too. They can certainly go through a field FAST.
Your decorations are gorgeous and you put me to shame because I haven’t done a thing. We’re heading to VA and NY to visit other grandchildren and I’m not sure that i want to put up decorations if we’re not going to be here.
Geez such angst over a fir tree made pretty with lights and ornaments. It's a winter thing, it's a Christian thing, or it's just a tree made to look pretty. Christmas trees are pretty and cheery. Why object to them? Some people have no life.
Celebrate Christmas at home, at friends and at church! Have a wonderful time!
There’s no need to celebrate Christmas at a public school. It should never have been done in the first place. Christmas is a religious celebration and really it should not be forced on anyone. However on private property both residential or business and on every church lawn, people who want to celebrate Christmas can and should put up the most elaborate nativity scenes and Christmans decorations yet created. There’s plenty of ways to make Christmas visible without the taxpayer footing the bill.
I like it!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.