Free Republic

A conservative group has set up a nativity scene at the Capitol building in Madison, and an atheists' group is seeking its own permit for an opposing display. A WISC-TV report says Wisconsin Family Action has been granted a permit to display its scene until the end of the month. The six statuettes that sit on a table depict the birth of Jesus Christ. Group spokeswoman Julaine Appling says the display is tasteful. She says there's room for a number of different voices. But the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says a nativity scene isn't appropriate for a state building....

PLANTATION— At the height of hurricane season, city officials are looking ahead to the holidays and putting their faith in something larger than snowmen, penguins and toy soldiers. Since the Broward chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union complained – twice – about the city's "inappropriate" holiday display in Liberty Tree Park, city officials have been trying to avoid another December dilemma.

This December, on courthouse lawns and other public places across America, you’ll see decorative lights, Santa and his reindeer, snowmen, “holiday trees,” and maybe even an angel or two. The only guest who’ll probably be missing from this birthday party is the guest of honor himself. Oddly, there’s even room for elves, tin soldiers, candy canes, and sugarplums — just no room for Christ. The lunacy of celebrating a holiday called Christmas that commemorates the birth of Christ without recognizing Christ could only happen in the philosophically inconsistent but politically correct America. Think of it: You can openly celebrate Christmas...

The challenge of a generation. We have arrived at a unique moment, and just perhaps a critical moment, in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. At the time of the American Revolution, Catholics accounted for less than 1 percent of the population of the 13 colonies — a tiny population clustered primarily in my native Maryland and a few counties of Pennsylvania. Yet within a few decades of the founding, the great tides of European immigration that began to wash onto the shores of the new nation — those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” as...

The claim that American women as a group face systemic wage discrimination is groundless. Today is Equal Pay Day. Feminist groups and political leaders have set aside this day to protest the fact that women’s wages are, on average, 78 percent of men’s wages. “This date symbolizes how far into 2010 women must work to earn what men earned in 2009,”says the National Committee on Pay Equity. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has enlisted supporters to wear red “to represent the way the pay gap puts women ‘in the red.’” There will be rallies, speak outs, mass mailings...

The left's paranoia about the intersection of Christianity and the public square continues unabated. It's amazing how much they fear something that represents such a little threat to them. In his column in the British newspaper The Guardian, Northeastern University associate journalism professor Dan Kennedy rails against Republicans' "intolerance" of secularism and accuses them of representing a threat to the First Amendment. In their penchant for projection, leftists accuse conservatives and Republicans of intolerance, when in fact, their own intolerance dominates the issues of freedom of speech and religion. Liberals accuse conservatives of being theocrats, when they are the ones...

The First Amendment of our Constitution states not the words “separation of church and state,” but rather the following: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof… How did this become construed to mean “separation of church and state”? By a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, in which he states: I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a...

A conservative activist and Illinois comptroller candidate was escorted from the Illinois State Capitol building Wednesday when he tried to remove a sign put up by an atheist group. William J. Kelly announced Tuesday that he planned to take down the sign put up by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and on Wednesday, he tried to make good on his plan. But Kelly said when he turned the sign around so it was face down, state Capitol police were quick to escort him away.

The county still has no approved Nativity scene or Christmas tree, more than a week after Loudoun's Board of Supervisors reversed a committee's decision to ban public displays. The supervisors will probably change that at a special meeting Thursday by ironing out details about who can set up displays...The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the school administration building in Ashburn, an hour before a scheduled public input session on the budget. On Dec. 1, supervisors voted, 7 to 1, to allow community groups "equal access" to the grounds. A decision last month to bar any structures, religious or...

Leesburg, Virginia: Looks like the traditional Loudoun County Courthouse Christmas displays will be absent this year. For almost 50 years the Rotary Club of Leesburg has placed a Christmas tree on the courthouse grounds, Leesburg Today reported. For 20 years, Dennis and Debbie Welch has set up the courthouse nativity scene. But a new policy from the Facilities and Grounds Committee of the Loudoun County Courthouse prohibits any displays, according to Leesburg Today. Phil Rusciolelli has spearheaded the Rotary Club's Christmas tree initiative the past five years.

SANTA ANA – The removal of a Christmas tree from the Orange County Superior courthouse Monday has prompted a petition among court employees to have the tree – connected to a gift drive for poor children – put back. The six-foot artificial tree, which was adorned with tags seeking toy donations to 'Operation Santa Claus,' was removed Monday after a member of the public complained about the tree being in the courthouse, court spokeswoman Gwen Vieau said. "It's a public building and we have to serve the diversity of our community,'' she said. The tree had been put up in...

John Satawa's family has displayed a nativity scene on a street median in Warren, Mich., virtually every Christmas season since 1945, but following an intimidating letter sent by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Satawa's county has put stop to the 63-year-old tradition. The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation proclaims its purpose in the letter to the Road Commission of Macomb County was to "protect the fundamental constitutional principle of separation of church and state." But Satawa contends there's nothing unconstitutional about his privately owned and maintained Christmas display. With the help of the Thomas More Law Center, Satawa has filed...

Good for thought herein: This month, in 1790, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States achieved an important milestone: the installation of the first bishop, in the first American see of Baltimore. Father John Carroll’s consecration — fittingly, on the Feast of the Assumption, 1790 — marked the Church’s transition from infancy to adolescence in our country. More than being mere Catholic history trivia, Carroll’s tenure as bishop provides important lessons, especially in the realm of civic engagement, for Catholics today. But will we, the holy mother Church’s laity and clergy, continue to ignore these principles of living our...

Cardinal Sean O'Malley celebrates Mass on camera Arlington, Va., Jun 18, 2009 / 07:24 am (CNA).- The members of PBS’ national board have voted to ban any new religious programming from their affiliate stations, citing both concerns about “public trust” and a 25-year-old rule that has never been rigorously enforced. Anticipation of the vote already resulted in one station cancelling its Mass for Shut-Ins. The 1985 rule in question requires PBS affiliates to air only non-commercial, non-partisan and non-sectarian content. Reportedly six affiliates broadcast “sectarian” programs produced by local religious groups, such as the Mass for Shut-Ins. These affiliates...

On Tuesday June 16, 2009 the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) met in its offices in Crystal City, located in Arlington, Virginia, to discuss the pressing issues they face. Top on its agenda was to consider whether it would continue airing “religious programming” or allow any more such programming to be aired on its member stations in the future. In explaining its mission on its’ own website the Corporation notes “…that PBS is a private, nonprofit corporation, founded in 1969, whose members are America’s public TV stations. PBS provides quality TV programming and related services to...

A Public Broadcasting Service board in Washington will decide Tuesday if WLAE-Channel 32 can continue its daily live broadcast of the Catholic Mass celebrated at St. Louis Cathedral.

Some see it as the universal symbol of sacrifice in World War I, others see it as the undisputed sign of Christianity, but it will be up to the Supreme Court to make a final determination as to whether a 7-foot cross remains standing in a California desert to memorialize war veterans. The cross was first erected in 1934 in what is now the federally protected Mojave Desert Preserve by a group of veterans whose doctors advised them that the desert heat would help them recover from shell shock. Veterans today say this war memorial and others like it across...

To the Rev. Les Puryear, a prayer without Christ is not a prayer. So when Puryear, the pastor of Lewisville Baptist Church, recently offered a prayer at a meeting of the Forsyth County commissioners, he prayed in the name of Jesus Christ. Prayer to a specific deity is at the heart of a lawsuit against Forsyth County and a controversy that has dragged on since 2006. The issue could, however, be coming toward an end. A judge could rule on the lawsuit next month. The lawsuit is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two county residents....

The proposal to reduce the income tax deduction for charitable contributions may be the first major salvo in an attempt to eliminate religion through the back door. Ever since the founding of these United States charitable organizations have played an important role in our social structure. Whether they were primarily religious or simply interested in good works, they earned a special role in making America a better nation and a better society than it would otherwise be. As a result of this, when the federal income tax went into effect in 1913 a special classification was carved out within the...

Without dissent, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that governments may accept permanent religious monuments in public parks without violating the Constitution. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., wrote for the Court in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (07-665). Such a monument, whether government financed or privately donated, must be considered “government speech,” conveying a message that it wishes to get out about “esthetics, history, and local culture.” Four Justices filed concurring opinions, representing the views of six Justices, thus requiring their views to be taken into account in determining just when governments may put up such monuments on public property.

Militant atheists are intent on evicting God from the public square in America. The latest development is a suit filed by Michael Newdow against Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Pastor Rick Warren, and several others who will be participating in the upcoming Presidential inaugural ceremonies. Newdow contends that the inauguration plans violate the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Newdow complains that when Chief Justice Roberts administers the Oath of Office to President-Elect Obama and closes with the traditional "so help me God," he will be giving impermissible government sanction to the...

Atheists, humanists and others seeking to keep God and religion out of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony will get their day in court. A D.C. District Court judge announced late Monday afternoon that he will hold a hearing in a lawsuit that seeks to strip all religious elements from the Jan. 20 inaugural festivities. Last week, Michael Newdow, a California lawyer, physician and well-known atheist, led 29 other plaintiffs and 11 organizations in filing a lawsuit to remove the phrase “so help me God” from the presidential oath of office and eliminate the opening and closing prayers from the inaugural...

Take note all ye cultural fascists out to annihilate Christmas: The Catholic League has a nativity scene on public property in New York City, right in Central Park. We deliberately put it on the corner of 59th and 5th so that New Yorkers taking the 5th Avenue bus downtown can’t avoid seeing it. Indeed, it’s impossible to miss. Next to it will be the world’s largest menorah, a religious symbol that some dunce lawyers still think is a secular symbol. “Every year we get a permit from the New York City Parks Department to display our life-sized crèche in Central...

NEW HAVEN, CT - In an effort to recognize the diverse traditions of the holiday season, the City has installed a Festivus pole in the Market Street square. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. With the addition of this new holiday centerpiece, the square is now thought to be the most diverse public display of late fall holiday symbols in the country...

Christmas is being compromised in one New York town in the name of inclusivity. In the New York village of Armonk, officials have placed a menorah for the Jewish faith and the Islamic star and crescent for the Muslim faith alongside the town's Christmas tree. Bill Donahue of the Catholic League does not believe a Christmas tree correctly represents the Christian faith. Instead, he says the Christian religious symbol of this season should be a nativity scene. Last year, a Muslim resident in Armonk asked officials to display Islamic symbols so Muslims could be included in Christmas celebrations. This...

'Spirit of inclusion': 'Jesus Christ himself would have gathered everyone around him' The decision by a New York village to place the Islamic star and crescent alongside the community's official Christmas tree has a Catholic leader wondering if there are any wise men among the town's leaders. Supervisors for Armonk, N.Y. voted to display a menorah and a star and crescent at tonight's Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the town's gazebo. "We've decided to go in the direction of being all-inclusive," Supervisor Reese Berman told Associated Press. The village had added the menorah previously. Last year, town resident Asad Jilani,...

After a Muslim complained that Islam was not being represented the town of North Castle in Buffalo has added the Islamic symbol of the crescent to the town's holiday display. The man who complained has admitted that the month of December does not always have an Islamic holiday in it.

The decision by a New York village to place the Islamic star and crescent alongside the community's official Christmas tree has a Catholic leader wondering if there are any wise men among the town's leaders. Supervisors for Armonk, N.Y. voted to display a menorah and a star and crescent at tonight's Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the town's gazebo. "We've decided to go in the direction of being all-inclusive," Supervisor Reese Berman told Associated Press. The village had added the menorah previously. Last year, town resident Asad Jilani, saying the Christmas season is an appropriate time to celebrate all cultures,...

ARMONK, N.Y. – When they light the town Christmas tree in Armonk on Sunday, there will be a Jewish menorah right alongside, as usual. There will also be something new this year — an Islamic crescent and star. And if there are any Buddhists or Hindus in town who want to see their symbols, the town is welcoming applications. The holiday display, sponsored by the town of North Castle, which includes the village of Armonk, is among a growing number around the country that include the symbol for Islam.

RFFM.org News SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS -- Nearly 20 members of a choir--which calls itself the Joyful Senior Singers & Ringers--performed in the Illinois state Capitol Building on December 9th. Hailing from the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Decatur, the unique group of musicians and vocalists, consisting solely of senior citizens, performed near an historic privately-sponsored Nativity scene which has been on display in Illinois' Statehouse since December 2nd. There was no official estimate, but those present said the Capitol Rotunda crowd was huge. "What a wonderful experience," said Marian Blankenship, a spokesman and member of the choir. "We didn't even use a...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A controversial anti-religion placard was reported missing from the state Capitol Friday - then later found - and now the sign's sponsor wants the State Patrol to provide special protection for it when it is returned. The uproar came as several other groups clamored for permission to post their own holiday displays at the state Capitol. The anti-religion sign, posted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., was reported missing Friday morning then was turned over to a Seattle radio station by an unidentified man at about 10 a.m. Annie Laurie Gaylor, a spokesman for...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An atheistic sign is included in the state Capitol's holiday display that includes a holiday tree and a Christian nativity scene. The sign, a new addition this year, is sponsored by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The sign reads, "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." Annie Laurie Gaylor, foundation co-president, said in a prepared statement that the sign is a reminder of the "real reason for the season, the winter solstice." The solstice, on Dec. 21 this year, is the shortest day of the year. The Capitol has had a holiday...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An atheist group has unveiled an anti-religion placard in the state Capitol, joining a Christian Nativity scene and "holiday tree" on display during December. The atheists' sign was installed Monday by Washington members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group based in Madison, Wis. With a nod to the winter solstice - the year's shortest day, occurring in late December - the placard reads, in part, "There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

The huge cross near Ponchatoula's downtown locomotive won't be covered with blazing white bulbs for this year's Christmas Lights Festival. Instead, a second bar has been added to display banners advertising citywide events.

Christmas Wars On: Thomas More Law Center Asks Christians to Retake the Public Square for ChristmasNovember 25, 2008 ANN ARBOR, MI — For the last several years, the Thomas More Law Center, a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been successfully defending the right of Christians to display nativity scenes on public property and to celebrate Christmas in public schools. In years past and still today, the Law Center has asked thousands of supporters to go on the offensive – where there has been no nativity display before, ask the government for permission to...

The Center for Public Intellectuals & The University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) April 19th-20th, 2002, Conference [Participants include: William/Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Sen Barack Obama] April 19th-20th, 2002 Chicago Illini Union 828 S. Wolcott This conference is part of the Center's mission of helping to create a more engaged civil society, working towards social change, fostering coalitions between theorists and activists, and combating anti-intellectualism in contemporary culture. It will be both a celebration of ideas and a rigorous examination of the roles and responsibilities that intellectuals play in society. I. Why Do Ideas Matter? (a keynote panel) We introduce the “meta”...

A Rabbi asked the City of Golden if he could put up a menorah near the Christmas tree and the reaction of the city is to consider banning all religous symbols. The City of Golden claims that they do not want to have any religous symbols such as the menorah on city property. City of Golen spokesman Jonathan Ashford said that "the goal here is to set guidelines. The city has had a history of having a display downtown that didn't include any kind of specific religious message or theme. We've tried to keep it neutral, very open, very inclusive."...

CITY PRAYER POLICY UPHELD Fredericksburg Free Lance - Star Fredericksburg Virginia http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/072008/07242008/397448 Date published: 7/24/2008 BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE Fredericksburg City Council can keep Jesus Christ out of its prayers. The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the city's right to start its meetings with nonsectarian prayers. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sat on the three-judge panel hearing the case and wrote the opinion. "She didn't feel my rights were being violated, but my rights are definitely being violated," said City Councilman Hashmel Turner, who filed the case. "It removed an opportunity for me to pray...

WASHINGTON, July 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that the city council of Fredericksburg, Virginia had proper authority to require "non-sectarian" prayer content and exclude council-member Rev. Hashmel Turner from the prayer rotation because he prayed "in Jesus' name." Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing the decision, said: "The restriction that prayers be nonsectarian in nature is designed to make the prayers accessible to people who come from a variety of backgrounds, not to exclude or disparage a particular faith." Ironically, she admitted Turner was excluded from participating solely because of the...

A little more than four years ago, Brandi Swindell, Bryan Fischer and a group called Generation Life hoped to stop the city council of Boise, Idaho, from removing a Ten Commandments monument that had stood in a city park since 1965. The city council accepted no public input into its decision, so Generation Life was compelled to file a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order on the city's action. Generation Life lost that case, and even though they later took another suit to the Idaho Supreme Court, winning the right to have the citizens of Boise vote on the monument's...

Colorado's new state law that was based on the apparent belief that free speech rights are not unalienable and they sometimes must be restricted is scaring residents who now fear expressing their opinions in public. WND has reported previously that the law, SB200, which was promoted as an "anti-discrimination" plan favoring alternative sexual lifestyles and gender perceptions, has made it a criminal offense to discriminate against someone based on those lifestyles or perceptions. The Christian publishing house Focus on the Family has called it a payback by the Democrat-controlled legislature and Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter to homosexual activists such as...

Seattle mayor Greg Nickels (D) announced that henceforth weapons will be banned from all city-owned property—as a safety measure. The ban is believed to have been inspired by a shooting last month that injured three people at Seattle Center. Nickels allowed that criminals aren’t likely to abide by the new rules, but contended, nonetheless, that safety would be enhanced because “thugs won’t have to exert as much force to get what they want. A robber won’t have to shoot if he knows his victim is unarmed. So, some money may change hands, but there’ll be no need for violence. Even...

An Ohio county public library has closed its meeting rooms to the public rather than allow them to be used by a Christian group. George and Cathy Vandergriff wanted to host a Crown Financial Ministries "Financial Freedom" workshop in a public meeting room at the Clermont County, Ohio, public library. Tim Chandler, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), says the couple was told that, because the class would be quoting from the Bible, they could not hold it at the library. "The Supreme Court said, more than 25 years ago, that once you've opened up meeting space, you...

It will start with warning signs and bureaucratic policy reviews. Or pat-downs and bag searches at park entrances, festival gates and holiday events? Although resorting to such measures would be a "shame," Nickels said, he would not rule them out during a Monday news conference to announce his prohibition of concealed weapons on city property. "We do hope that our parks and our Seattle Center events remain open and accessible and welcoming to all," Nickels said. "But we will also make sure that they're safe." Nor is it yet clear whether Nickels' move will land the city in court --...

SEATTLE -- Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has signed an executive order that asks all departments to come up with a plan within 30 days to ban guns at all property owned by the city.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has signed an executive order that asks all departments to come up with a plan within 30 days to ban guns at all property owned by the city. The mayor's office says a public hearing will be held to gather comment on Monday's order but it does not require city council approval.Nickels says the added gun restriction is needed because of a shooting at last month's Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center that wounded two people.

Thousands of stone Ten Commandments monuments on highly visible properties in communities across the nation, millions of smaller plaques in Christian and Jewish homes, and a massive bronze showing the biblical image of Moses holding the stones on which God wrote… The target of the ACLU? Nope. Thanks to the ACLU! Joe Worthing, the executive director for Project Moses, says his organization, only a few years old, is well on its way to reaching many of its goals of placing Ten Commandments monuments all over the nation, and it's because of a complaint from the ACLU. The ministry was launched...

Washington DC, Apr 4, 2008 / 06:40 am (CNA).- The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case in its next term to decide whether a Utah city must allow a monument to be installed in a public park by a New Age group that promotes pyramids, mummification, and sexual ecstasy, Cybercast News Service reports. This week Supreme Court justices agreed to hear a case involving a Salt Lake City-based religion called Summum, whose founder claims to have been visited by “highly intelligent beings.”  The group, arguing on First Amendment grounds, has sought to erect a monument to its “Seven Aphorisms”...

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a free speech case in which a church wants to place a religious monument in a park. Officials in Pleasant Grove City, Utah, asked the court to step into the lawsuit brought by the religious group known as Summum, saying that if the group prevails, governments would be inundated with demands to display donated monuments. The dispute stems from Pleasant Grove City's refusal to allow the display of a "Seven Aphorisms of Summum" monument in the same park that is the home for a Ten Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of...

PRESERVING Boston Common should mean much more than keeping the grass green ("Large events may become uncommon at city's beloved park," Page B1, March 20). The Common was America 's very first public grounds and the city should not regulate away the right of the people to assemble peaceably there for the sake of a greener lawn. If greener grass is what the city wants, they can achieve that by not allowing dogs to urinate on the grounds. Boston Parks Department maintenance people have told anyone who asks that dog urine, not peaceable assemblies, is what damages the grass most.