http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/waronchristmas/ en-us Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:50:21 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407904/posts Taunton second-grader suspended over drawing of Jesus Father angered by forced psychological evaluation of boy, 8 By Gerry Tuoti, Staff Writer GateHouse News Service Posted Dec 14, 2009 @ 10:20 PM Taunton — A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus... Taunton Gazette http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407904/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:50:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416397/posts Today, while Christians around the world are celebrating Christmas, radical Muslims will be gathering in Atlanta, Georgia for the beginning of their annual hatefest. The irony of this cannot be overstated, as the group sponsoring the event, ICNA, and its followers openly denounce Christians and propagate material cursing and calling for violence against Christians. ICNA or the Islamic Circle of North America was created nearly 40 years ago as the American affiliate to the terror-related Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan. But while JI has focused the majority of its faith-based ire on Hindus, the religious groups of choice... Front Page Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416397/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:23:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416279/posts FAILED plane bomber Umar Abdulmutallab has bragged to FBI agents that there are more young men plotting to launch attacks on the West. The 23-year-old Nigerian has told security chiefs of a sinister network in Yemen who are ready and waiting to strike. The reports come after The Sun revealed that cops fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners. The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen. It was there London-educated Abdulmutallab prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet. The British extremists in Yemen are... The Sun UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416279/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:40:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415410/posts It's a mildly encouraging sign of more temperate times that Christmas has taken less of a mauling this year. For a number of years, there was a predictable harvest of news stories featuring a school board, a municipality, some hypersensitive public servant calling for the banning of a Christmas tree or the elimination of certain traditional carols, or insisting on the neutral Happy Holidays. They were all essentially the same: some hypersensitive grinch complaining of being ground down, of being “offended” by the oppressive Christian cast of this most Christian of holidays. Globe and Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415410/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:31:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2163539/posts Nativity scenes made of real straw. Wise Men 2 feet tall. Menorahs bigger than a human being.   Holiday display in Teaneck. In many North Jersey municipalities, those sacred symbols can be found at the same place people get dog licenses, pay taxes and apply for building permits — town hall.  The display of religious items on public property has long been a charged discussion in American communities, and the case law governing holiday displays is still murky enough to confound local governments trying to create a festive atmosphere for residents.* Fair Lawn for years just lit a holiday tree.... northjersey http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2163539/posts#comment Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:56:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414611/posts This year, America is receiving a subliminal holiday message that Nativity scenes pose a more imminent threat than Gitmo detainees being tried on American soil. Regardless of personal Christmas traditions, most Americans agree that the Nativity visually represents the biblical story of Jesus’s birth. Thus, controversial crèche issues are not about Christmas, but Christianity. Founding Father Thomas Jefferson said that “[t]he Bible is the cornerstone of liberty … Students’ perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.” Who could have foreseen the First Amendment becoming a secular platform to warn public schoolchildren to... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414611/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:12:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414583/posts From a long-sealed cave tomb, archaeologists have excavated the only known Jesus-era burial shroud in Jerusalem, a new study says. The discovery adds to evidence that the controversial Shroud of Turin did not wrap the body of Christ, researchers say. [ snip ] The weave of the Tomb of the Shroud fabric, the new study says, casts further doubt on the Shroud of Turin as Jesus' burial cloth. The newfound shroud was something of a patchwork of simply woven linen and wool textiles, the study found. The Shroud of Turin, by contrast, is made of a single textile woven in... National Geographic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414583/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:28:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413838/posts 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... El Paso Inc http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413838/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:10:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1301135/posts A New Jersey talk radio host has succeeded in forcing the Egg Harbor Township board of education to reverse its ban on the Christmas classic "Silent Night," which had been dropped from the school district's holiday program based a single parental complaint. Last night's 7-0 vote by the panel means that "Silent Night" can now be included in this week's Holiday Singalong at the E.H. Slaybaugh Elementary School, where the controversy first erupted. The complaining parent, an attorney who has not been publicly identified, asked that the holiday carol be dropped from the program, even though songs about other religious... NewsMax http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1301135/posts#comment Tue, 14 Dec 2004 16:05:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2413436/posts Albert the Green Nosed Reindeer, had a growing bank account And if you ever saw it, you would even wonder how All of the other watermelons, used to scheme in smoke filled rooms But now because of Albert, they will gain control of you Then one smoky kwanzaa eve, Barack came to say Albert with your friends on high, won't you skew the truth tonight Then all the watermelons loved him, as they shouted out with glee Albert the green nosed reindeer, you'll go down in infamy! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2413436/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:25:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412743/posts Are you as annoyed as I am by that nauseatingly amorphous phrase “Happy Holidays?” You may be interested to know that the mindset behind the term precedes America’s postmodern love affair with political correctness, tracing back to good ole’ fashioned Cold War Communism (PC’s uglier big sister). Indeed, today’s secularist war on Christmas (yes, the one that, like God, many liberals deny exists) was waged, in large part, when Communists began attempting to supplant the deity of Christ (and His associated Judeo-Christian principles) with the false deity of the State. Ronald Reagan once spoke to this noteworthy historical factoid during... Canada Free Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412743/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:23:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395681/posts Wishing Happy Christmas 'Could Be An Obscenity' Warns Bishop Wishing people a Happy Christmas could be seen as an "insult" or even an "obscenity" as not everyone is in a position to celebrate, a bishop has warned. By Stephen Adams 27 Nov 2009 Many can't share the manufactured bonhomie of Christmas, say bishop Y The Right Reverend Humphrey Southern, the Bishop of Repton, said it was a "hollow" greeting to make to those who were suffering. People should not "simply make a cocoon of happiness for ourselves and our loved ones" at Christmas, he said. Writing in the monthly Derby... Telegraph(UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395681/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:22:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2408400/posts Here is video of Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly talking about the ACLU's "holiday display" including a "holiday tree" a menorah and an atheist sign saying "there are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell" and finally an ACLU sign stating that the organization defends freedom of religion. Ann Coulter called the ACLU "America's leading anti-Christian hate group" and said "you may as well have the Klan putting up a sign at a NAACP memorial saying that "we support equal rights," you know they don't support equal rights." (Video) Freedom's Lighthouse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2408400/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:42:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407883/posts How the Grinch Stole Christmas ...Part Duex 2009 EVERY WHO DOWN IN WHOVILLE LIKED CHRISTMAS A LOT, BUT THE GRINCH, WHO LIVED JUST NORTH OF WHOVILLE, DID NOT. THE GRINCH HATED CHRISTMAS THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS SEASON NO ONE KNOWS WHY, NO ONE KNOWS QUITE THE REASON. IT COULD HAVE BEEN THAT THE GRINCH WAS JEW, BUT HE WASN’T THE GRINCH SIMPLY HATED EACH WHO. RadioActive w/Steve Mitton http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2407883/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:30:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406956/posts Yes, Virginia, there really is a war on Christmas, despite feeble attempts of the left to convince us that the controversy was concocted by Bill O’Reilly, FOX News and the dreaded Christian right. That the war is real is incontrovertible. More interesting is the why. An estimated 96% of Americans celebrate Christmas – not Kwanza, winter solstice, Eid or Buddah’s Birthday. According to a November Rasmussen poll, when shopping, 72% of Americans favor the salutation “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays,” versus 22% who prefer the generic greeting. The Christmas camp (doubtless spurred by sinister, theocratic impulses) gained 4 percentage points... grasstopsusa.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406956/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:49:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400793/posts Participants in the COP15 climate summit should not be subject to Christmas symbols such as fir trees... Although the COP15 climate conference is set to take place during the Christmas season, the Foreign Ministry believes the holiday and all its symbols should be kept well clear of the summit. That point was bluntly illustrated when a sponsorship providing numerous Nordmann fir trees for the conference was rejected by the ministry... Christmas is a religious holiday that has no place at a United Nations function... Copenhagen post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400793/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 06:47:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399962/posts A while back in (December, 1906) prominent members of New York's Jewish community organized a strike against Christmas exercises in the city's public schools. In light of state laws prohibiting the teaching of "religious doctrines or tenets of any particular Christian or other religious sect," they asked the Board of Education to bar school-based festivities that had in the past included such elements as religious hymns, pictures of the Madonna, holly, mistletoe, and Christmas trees. (They also maintained that any "symbols of Judaism, Mohammedanism, or infidelism" should be banned as well.) When the Board of Education failed to respond to... reason magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399962/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 05:22:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399479/posts Now that the holidays are upon us, it’s time to get annoyed with the consumerism, secularism and political correctness that continue to whittle away at the meaning of the holiday season. The secular and consumption-driven nature of the season has become so routine that one has to work hard to remember to take time for the traditions and religious observances that once defined the season. I thought I had seen every example of how religious meaning has been stripped out of Christmas until a friend showed me the label on a festive seasonal bottle of Coca Cola the other day.... Carroll County Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399479/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 17:57:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399411/posts NORTH ANDOVER (MA)— Town leaders learned the hard way this week: Don't mess with Christmas. Five days after the town ordered firefighters to take down their decades-old Merry Christmas sign from the fire station, they got the OK to hang it back up yesterday afternoon. "It seems like a happy ending," North Andover fire Chief William Martineau said, smiling as people drove by slowly, beeping and yelling out Merry Christmas. "It put a little joy back in the holidays." The controversy had people across the country talking about North Andover. Town Hall was flooded with angry phone calls this week.... Lawrence (MA) Eagle-Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399411/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 16:31:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399063/posts Christians should not show timidity in cultural disputes over traditional Christmas songs, displays and Nativity scenes, the head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights says. He charges such disputes are contrived by a small set of “mean-spirited people” who wrongly insinuate that many non-Christians are offended by Christmas. Many reports surface each year regarding local governments putting restrictions on traditional Christmas displays, and Christmas 2009 is no exception. A life-sized crèche was displayed for about 50 years in the public square of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. However, this year the display has been banned because one man said he... cna http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399063/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 05:11:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399031/posts A controversial Merry Christmas sign has returned to its traditional spot outside the Main Street fire station, after the town reversed an earlier decision to take it down. The decision to put the homemade sign back on display was made this afternoon, after residents protested its removal this morning outside Town Hall. "The townspeople have spoken," Selectman Richard Nardella said. Firefighters put the sign back up around 4 p.m. Eagle Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399031/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 04:13:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398929/posts CHRISTMAS IN JAPAN can be a little lonely and isolated for the Westerner here. What with the distance from “home” and cultural differences. Little things, here and there. Missing some of the usual things from back home, especially for people like one particular 'American in Tokyo'. This year 2009 is again no different. However, in many respects I must say there is nevertheless one little thing that is so refreshing about being stuck in Japan during Christmas—after a few years—and for the occasions one cannot make it back "home". It is almost like the clock has been refreshingly and... AmericanInTokyo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398929/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 01:54:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397858/posts NORTH ANDOVER — An annual "Merry Christmas" sign on a North Andover fire station has been ordered removed. Town officials told firefighters last week to take down the homemade sign after they said people complained. Fire Chief William Martineau said Monday that the sign was made by firefighters about 50 years ago and never had been an issue before. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397858/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 20:43:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397620/posts President Barack Obama ... ... is slated to deliver a prime-time address on Tuesday night in which he'll lay out his plans for the American war in Afghanistan. The address before the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday night will not only be used to announce the immediate order to deploy roughly 30,000 more troops, but the administration will also use the occasion to convey how it intends to turn the fight over to the Kabul government, the New York Times reported. But the administration may also face an unforeseen enemy as it lays out its long-awaited... Morning Call http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397620/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 15:23:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396098/posts The war on Christmas continues. Here is a picture of the national Best Buy ad inviting folks to celebrate Thanksgiving and . . . Eid al-Adha, which is a Muslim festival of sacrifice. It’s actually a festival that sacrifices of goats in similitude of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. Best Buy adNow, I have nothing against Best Buy celebrating a Muslim holiday, in fact I think it’s a wonderfully inclusive thing to do. No, the problem I have is that in 2006 Best Buy discontinued the use of “Merry Christmas” in their holiday advertising. Here is a posting from... Right Pundits http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396098/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:24:29 GMT