Free Republic

Anti-Christmas district hit with federal lawsuitSchool officials banned carols, even for instrumental groups December 20, 2004The New Jersey school district that banned Christmas music, even by instrumental groups, from its holiday concerts has been hit with a lawsuit claiming officials have demonstrated hostility toward religion. Thomas More Law Center filed a federal lawsuit Friday on behalf of Michael Stratechuk and his two children, who are students in the South Orange/Maplewood School District. According to a statement from Thomas More, the suit claims the district's action is unconstitutional. As WorldNetDaily reported, this year the district expanded its no-Christmas music policy to...

WELLINGTON — In this village, Jesus has returned with the help of modern-day technology.Last year, the baby Jesus figure disappeared twice from the Nativity scene in front of the Wellington Community Center, never to be seen again. This year, the new blond, blue-eyed statue was outfitted with a GPS tracking device that monitored its every movement.The evening after Jesus' birth, the baby moved.At 6:45 a.m. Thursday, a village employee noticed that the statue was missing. Building maintenance supervisor Gus Arnold logged on to the monitoring system and saw that it was taken from the manger at 10 p.m. Wednesday.Arnold homed...

Weatherford, OK – Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), has issued a disturbing policy which requires all employees to refrain from using the word "Christmas" in oral or written form. This directive was given by the university upon legal advice of the Oklahoma Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmondson. Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to SWOSU following a complaint from a university affiliate. John Misak, the Director of Human Resources, recently visited various university departments and employee groups and informed everyone that any decorations featuring the word "Christmas" in any work or public areas of the university must be immediately removed....

Group calls for end to Christmas Culture wars The outrage by some people over department stores using the phrase “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” is a distraction from real moral and social issues, according to a group of concerned Catholics and evangelical Christians. The group has called for a “cease-fire in the Christmas culture wars,” and challenged conservative talk-show host Bill O’Reilly and others who have lashed out against a so-called secular “War on Christmas.” In an “Open Letter to Christmas Culture Warriors” published as an advertisement in the New York Post, Washington Times and the National Catholic Reporter,...

For decades, children have enjoyed singing about the little donkey which is said to have carried the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem.   The calendar features Lord Nelson forced to wear a life jacket But one group of young singers was ordered to change the traditional lyrics of the Christmas song - because they were said to be "too religious".Instead of "Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way", the youngsters were told to sing "carry Lucy" for fear of offending non-Christians. The incident, at the school's Christmas concert, appears on a new calendar alongside 11 other examples of extreme political...

I hate to say I started this thing that ended up with Mike Huckabee making a commercial with a cross floating around in the background, but I did, and I told you this was going to happen. This is what the "War on Christmas" was all about, though very few people actually read the book to see what it was about. I said in that book that it was not a good idea to define religious inclusiveness in our diverse country as including every religion except Christianity. I said in that book that an over-tweaked sense of political correctness was...

NBC says some find bookcase and Christmas lights offensive Candidate wishing voters Merry Christmas upsets some folks The latest effort to spread the idea that religion has no place in the public square comes as a response to a TV spot produced by presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I urge you to watch the two video clips I have placed in this e-mail. First, is the ad by former Governor Huckabee wishing people a Merry Christmas. Click here to watch the 30-second ad. Next, is a clip from the Today Show (Dec. 18), hosted by Meredith Vieira, on which Governor...

Yesterday, Anne Kennedy, wife of Stand Firm [Anglican website] staffer Matt Kennedy, got in trouble at her part-time job: This Thursday Anne was reprimanded at work. She works part-time as a cashier at a newly opened store here in Binghamton. After one of her transactions, a customer wished her a Merry Christmas. Anne responded in kind, "Merry Christmas." One of her managers was standing nearby and overheard Anne. She stepped into Anne’s cashier booth and whispered, “We don’t say that here.” “Say what?” Anne asked. “We don’t say Merry Christmas. We don’t want to be offensive. You need to say...

Christmas in Japan can be a little lonely and isolated for the Westerner. What with the distance and cultural differences. Missing the usual things from back home, especially for one 'American in Tokyo'. This year 2007 is no different. However, in many respects there is nevertheless one little thing that is so refreshing about being stuck in Japan during Christmas—after a few years--for the occasions one cannot make it back "home". It is almost like the clock has been turned back years to a simple and brighter time in our own country. An era years before the phenomenon of "political...

Focus on the Family has never seen a pointless war it wouldn’t wage. So the purported War on Christmas was made for Dr. James Dobson’s crew. Jesus Christ overturned the moneychangers’ tables and excoriated them for turning God’s house into a den of thieves. Dobson just wants the thieves to wish you a Merry Christmas.

In recent weeks there has been much commentary about the “War on Christmas.” FOX News host Bill O’Reilly recently spoke up on November 18 saying, “It’s all part of the secular progressive agenda ... to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square.” He then added, “because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs, like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious-based, usually.” O’Reilly’s comments on his television show, The...

Governor Chris Gregoire lit a Menorah in a celebration at the state Capitol on Monday, and at the same celebration, accepted the gift of a Menorah for her home. The Menorah that was lit during the ceremony is displayed in the Capitol rotunda with a Christmas tree. However, when a local resident asked for a Nativity scene to be displayed with the Menorah and the tree, the Governor refused. This morning, at the request of a local resident, Liberty Counsel faxed a letter to Governor Gregoire along with our Legal Memorandum on the constitutionality of displaying religious symbols during the...

ANN ARBOR, MI — Persistence paid off for Frances Burke, a senior resident of Bayside, New York. For many years, the Bayside Hills Civic Association refused Burke’s request to include a nativity display in its annual holiday celebration which included a menorah and tree lighting ceremony at the public park. This year, however, Burke teamed up with the Thomas More Law Center, a national Christian public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which seeks to restore public acknowledgment of the religious significance of Christmas. As a result, for the first time in its history, the Bayside Hills...

By Burt Prelutsky Over the last several years, a time of year that was traditionally a period of goodwill and universal brotherhood, when even actual brothers somehow managed to set aside sibling rivalries for a month or so, Christmas has become an annual battleground between decent people and a relatively small number of secular leftists who insist on carrying on as if auditioning for the role of Scrooge. As many of you are no doubt aware, this year, Fort Collins got a jump start on the foolishness. The town fathers, by making every effort not to offend anyone, have, like...

'Santa Claus Is Coming To Get Me': Mental health charity sparks outrage with spoof Christmas carolsLast updated at 14:19pm on 20th December 2007  Traditional: But Christmas carols were given a radical make-over by a health trust in Salford A bad taste top ten of Christmas carols poking fun at mental illness has been slammed as "degrading" and "insensitive" after it was published with the backing of a social services department. The booklet contains a list titled "Christmas Carols for the Mentally Disturbed". It then names psychiatric conditions and suggests festive songs which would suit the illness. They include: Schizophrenia...

Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford has issued a disturbing directive forbidding employees to say or write the word "Christmas." This directive was given by the University upon legal advice of the (Oklahoma Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmondson). Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to the University following a complaint from a University affiliate. The controversy began when the University's Director of Human Resources recently visited various departments and said that decorations featuring the word "Christmas" in any areas of the University must be immediately removed. He also instructed the employees not so say "Christmas" while on the job. As...

War on 'Merry Christmas'? http://access.aikenstandard.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/aik/archive/2007/December/09/site-localnews/143446.xmlhttp://tinyurl.com/26bjsbDecember 09, 2007 By HALEY HUGHES Staff writer What would you say if someone wished you a "Merry Christmas"? Would your response be "Merry Christmas to you, too," or would you ever so subtly correct them by throwing out the more politically correct term, "Happy Holidays"? Would you say anything at all? In an ever-increasingly PC world, it seems "Happy Holidays" is the more accepted greeting passed from person to person when the holiday season (whatever the holiday may be) arrives. The fear of offending someone by referring to Christianity's most treasured figure has driven individuals...

Help Sink Old Navy's Blockade Dear Craig, You would think a company that gets the vast majority of its business from Christians would be respectful of its customers. Such is true of companies that don't have an anti-Christian bias. But not at Old Navy. Old Navy has put a blockade around Christmas. Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic are owned by the same company. And all three boycott Christmas. At these stores, Christmas isn't allowed because a handful of non-Christians are offended. Old Navy doesn't want to offend non-Christians. But they sure don't worry about offending Christians. They will take...

For anyone who has spent any considerable amount of time on this campus, Harvard students’ knee-jerk liberalism and militant atheism, or, at least, militant hostility to religion, is more than apparent. An integral part of any misguided teenage rebellion includes perfunctorily discarding the formalities and traditions long observed in one’s family: Sunday mornings spent in church, obligatory dietary restrictions, and even a baseline belief in God. Thanks to cartoonish caricatures of Evangelicals in the media, religion immediately connotes images, in the minds of the self-styled intellectuals at Harvard, of provincialism, stupidity, and Republican Party politics—things to avoid. Yet, despite this...

SPOKANE, Wash. - They made a list, but they should have checked it twice. In a December newsletter to the families of elementary school students, Spokane Public Schools' list of "important dates" didn't include Christmas. Hanukkah, Human Rights Day, winter break, the Islamic holy day Eid al-Adha, first day of winter and Kwanzaa all made the list. But no Christmas. "It was absolutely an error of omission," district spokeswoman Terren Roloff said. "In our efforts to be inclusive, we missed the obvious." The omission drew complaints from some parents that in an age of political correctness, Christians are being overlooked...

Shot in Boston, with a cast of 42, it's a wonderful Kwanzaa December 16, 2007 While the Christmas film has been a staple of American cinema since George Bailey discovered it's a wonderful life, the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa, observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 each year, has been around for only about 40 years, and the cinematic pickings are much slimmer. That's why a Boston-based independent filmmaker believes he's breaking new ground with his movie. "Kwanzaa with the Jones's" will have its premiere Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. The film is the...

Quite simply, success in marketing depends upon offering the right product to the right consumer at the right time. That is not always easy since the fickle consumer is constantly changing and the marketer must be ever-ready to adjust accordingly. Thus, depending on one’s perspective, marketing has become a science, a craft or an art. The marketer has at his disposal techniques and tools since in today’s streamlined and globalized world, one mistake can translate into millions of dollars lost. Last year, Wal-Mart learned their lesson and brought back Merry Christmas while others did not. And so, the marketers employ...

At the summit of national power, politicians and bureaucrats are terrified at the idea of endorsing the religious views of the majority of Americans. Our First Amendment forbids the establishment of a state religion, but many of our governing elites are taking it a step further, outlawing its very existence from the public conversation. Congress can turn this into an unintentional comedy of manners. On Dec. 11, the House considered a rather meaningless resolution "recognizing the importance of Christmas" -- and nine members of the House voted nay. The roll call of Grinches are, surprise, largely from blue states: Gary...

The Christmas season is upon us, which means it's that special time of year for the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State to make sure no wayward city council will allow a whiff of frankincense on government property. They must send out direct-mail fundraising letters asking "Help Us Crush a Creche at Christmas!"   The Christmas season is also that time of year when the business world implores us to consider the material as more important than the spiritual, all in the spirit of "the holidays." So we celebrate the arrival on...

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising. Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores,...

From: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director TO: All Employees DATE: 4th November 2007 Re: Office Christmas Party I'm happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks! We'll have a small band playing traditional carols. Please feel free to sing along. Don't be surprised if the Managing Director shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1.00 p.m. Exchange of gifts among employees can be done at...

YOU CAN'T STEAL MY**CHRISTMAS* Poem by Sharon Steege I don't know who they are Saying I can't greet the crowd The way that I want to Can't say **CHRISTMAS** out loud. I walk into a business place See things that I rather not see But dare I not say **CHRISTMAS** And ask for a "holiday" tree. What happened to freedom of speech And living in the land of the free How can they take my **CHRISTMAS** money But can't say **MERRY CHRISTMAS** to me. Men and women have given their lives So we could still go free I wonder how...

Focus on the Family Action has released the latest list of retailers that are censoring Christmas...and those that are not. Click on the link to view the PDF file.....

This year, for the first time, Chatham Borough's holiday tree will be joined by a giant menorah. The borough agreed to a request for a public menorah display by Shalom Lubin, who over the years has gained approval for menorahs in neighboring Madison, Florham Park, East Hanover and Chatham Township. Lubin, a rabbi and director of the Chabad of Southeast Morris County, said word is spreading and towns are saying "hey, you have one in your town, why don't we have one in our town?" "More and more towns are realizing that in the spirit of the holiday, being inclusive...

Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development officials have announced a ban on any decorations in HUD housing complexes that mention Jesus or represent religion for the Christmas season, and the American Family Association has responded with a petition drive to overturn the decision. The AFA has set up a link to allow constituents to send e-mails to the HUD secretary or President Bush expressing their objections to the policy. The issue arose at the Plant City Living Center in Plant City, Fla., where 85-year-old Mrs. Arnold was told that federal law now prohibits her from displaying anything that references...

An early skirmish in this year's "War on Christmas" ended on Tuesday when the nationwide home improvement chain Lowe's apologized for referring to Christmas trees in its holiday catalog as "family trees." "That was a complete error," Maureen Rich, a spokeswoman for Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse - which serves more than 13 million customers a week in its 1,400 stores across the nation - told Cybercast News Service. "Right now, we're extremely disappointed in this breakdown in our own creative process. "We are apologizing to customers today for any confusion our holiday catalog created," Rich said. She explained that the...

A Winchester principal who bowed to some parents’ objections and scrubbed a seventh-grade field trip to “Miracle on 34th Street” said the classic Christmas tale is too focused on Santa Claus and doesn’t tie into the school’s curriculum. McCall Middle School Principal Evander French Jr. has axed the trip to a Dec. 19 performance of the play at the Stoneham Theatre, a Scrooge-like move that has angered parents. “The people who complained were concerned about the very narrow focus on Santa Claus,” French said yesterday... On Friday, an e-mail was sent to parents telling them the trip was canceled. French...

Nativity scene causes protest A letter was filed with city to remove the nativity. Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 7:10 a.m. MENOMINEE -- A Wisconsin-based group of atheists are protesting a decision by Menominee officials to allow a nativity scene on city property. The nativity will be in the bandshell. The Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a letter with the city, saying the display would violate the separation of Church and State. The Parks and Recreation Committe's approval of the bandshell display comes with the provision that non-Christians be allowed to add their symbols. Nativity scene plans reconsidered After...

67% Prefer Merry Christmas while 26% Opt for Happy Holidays Thursday, November 22, 2007 As the holiday season begins, 67% of American adults like stores to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in their seasonal advertising rather than “Happy Holidays.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 26% prefer the Happy Holidays line. There is no gender gap on this question and few demographic differences. From a politically partisan perspective, 88% of Republicans prefer “Merry Christmas” while just 57% of Democrats favor the saying. Heading into Thanksgiving week, only 27% say they have begun their Christmas or holiday shopping...

Now that the 2007 end-of-year holiday season is officially underway, I want to offer some heart-felt politically insensitive expressions of happiness and well wishes. Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It seems that each year another distortion or misinterpretation of the First Amendment generates another attack on our end-of-year season for thanks to God, celebration and hope. These attacks are intended to put the rest of us on the defensive about our faith, culture and history, and claim a victory for political correctness. The latest? A Washington state school district issued a memo to its teachers...

Another battle over separation of church and state may be on the horizon with a proposal scheduled to go in front of an Assembly committee Wednesday. The issue? What to call the tree that sits in the State Capitol during the holiday season. Currently the tree is referred to as a "holiday tree," but the resolution that will be brought to the Committee on State Affairs would rename it as the Wisconsin State Christmas Tree. Michael Schoenfield, legislative aide to Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, who is sponsoring the resolution, said the state should refer to the tree as a...

A county sheriff who had publicly expressed frustration with "politically correct" antagonism from secular America toward the religious foundations of Christmas now is under investigation for his thoughts, according to a county commissioner.Larimer, Colo., County Sheriff Jim Alderden's opinions were expressed in his "Bulls-Eye" website column recently. He had been prompted to write after watching the ongoing dispute in the city of Fort Collins, where a task force recommended white lights, as well as neutral and non-religious decorations such as snowflakes, snowmen, snowballs, ice skates, skis, penguins and polar bears for this time of year. "Penguins? This is dangerous territory....

'Twas the month before Christmas when all through our land, Not a Christian was praying nor taking a stand. Why the PC Police had taken away, The reason for Christmas - no one could say. The children were told by their schools not to sing, About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things. It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say December 25th is just a " Holiday ". Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it! CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod...

"Merry Christmas" Twas the month before Christmas When all through our land, Not a Christian was praying Nor taking a stand. Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away, The reason for Christmas - no one could say. The children were told by their schools not to sing, About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things. It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say December 25th is just a ' Holiday '. Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it! CDs from Madonna, an X...

I get all these AFA alerts about stores that ban Christmas. How about a list or a link to a list of shopping alternatives who do not ban Christmas? Here's a few examples of web sites who were not so ashamed to allow the word Christmas to appear on their front page. (Searching the page for text does not always work, e.g. Starbucks mentions Christmas on their front page, but it's in an image.): http://www.gifts.com/ http://www.walmart.com/ http://www.target.com/ (Surpise!) http://www.ftd.com/ http://www.lenox.com/ http://www.winebasket.com http://www.starbucks.com/

Those few U.S. citizens who can’t stand the thought or public expression of “Merry Christmas” or any other symbol of Christmas are taking up the annual banner of their War against “the reason for the season.” These misguided citizens can’t stand to see the Nativity on public property. It offends them. In the name of the misinterpreted First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union gladly pursues the War in court. School Administrators and school boards struggle with renaming the annual “Christmas” concert to the benign “Holiday” or “Winter” Concert. Ditto for Christmas trees and class parties; for Christmas cards and...

Christmas causes global warmingBy KENT HARPER Can you believe it? People all over town are lavishing their homes, inside and out, with Christmas lights and electric-powered inflatables. Hasn't anybody heard about global warming? You can't go anywhere without seeing additional, energy-guzzling lights strung on street posts, fences, gates, eaves or around windows like festive cobwebs. Ely is small and may not be contributing much to global warming. But this is going on all over the world. Even non-Christian countries are being sucked into this Christmas, energy orgy. And that energy has to come from somewhere and the emissions go straight...

My two daughters came home from school the other day singing along to a popular song that the school's third grade will sing for a holiday ensemble. The song was very familiar, written by Johnny Marks and performed by Brenda Lee in 1959, and went something like "Rockin' around, the holiday tree, have a happy holiday. ..." Wait a minute. "Holiday tree"? Is there such a thing? I corrected my daughters' poor translation of the classic Christmas song, only to be harshly criticized for my ignorance that everybody doesn't celebrate Christmas, so the school had changed the words. Hold on....

Liberty Counsel targets K-Mart, Sears for refusing to use 'Christmas' in ads Allie Martin OneNewsNow.com December 7, 2007 A Christian law firm is targeting two retail giants after they offended Christians with their advertising. Officials at Liberty Counsel say K-Mart and Sears have renamed "Christmas trees" to "holiday trees" in their advertising. According to Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, a ministry supporter asked K-Mart why it took the action. "A representative from Sears Holding Corporation, which owns K-Mart as well, wrote back and said that Sears is a diverse company and it did not want to offend any of its...

Carl Von Clausewitz is often quoted as saying, "War is the continuation of politics by other means". I am not nearly so frequently quoted as saying, "The war on Christmas is the continuation of political correctness by a bunch of meanies". Of course, I probably haven't been cited much for that since I just came up with it. Perhaps it will take off and help me procure a spot in Bartlett's.  That will have to wait as I focus on the very real attacks on Christmas and Santa. I offer the following stories pulled from recent events. I call them,...

Executive Order: Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2007 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2007, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 below. Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their...

A 70-year-old man working as Santa Claus says he was sacked from a Cairns department store for saying "ho, ho, ho" and singing Christmas carols. In a case of political correctness seemingly gone mad, retired entertainer John Oakes says he was fired from his job at Myer for his rendition of Santa’s famous laugh. His employer, Westaff, last month sparked national outrage when it ordered its Santas to say "ha, ha, ha" instead of "ho, ho, ho" because it could be derogatory to women but denied the words were a factor in Mr Oakes’s case. The word "ho" is also...

An angry Italian priest has persuaded soft drinks company Red Bull to withdraw an advertisement setting its product in a nativity scene on the grounds it is disrespectful to Christianity. Father Marco Damanti, from Sicily, wrote to the makers of the caffeinated energy drink denouncing their commercial as "a blasphemous act" and said on Monday he had received a prompt reply promising to remove it from Italian television.The advert depicted four wise men, instead of three, visiting Mary and the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem. The fourth wise man bore a can of the soft drink."The image of the sacred family...

City officials in Michigan change Dickens Christmas Festival to Dickens Holiday Festival ADF attorneys send letter providing information to officials in Mount Pleasant on the constitutionality of using the word “Christmas” for its Dickens festival  MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter Monday to city officials in Mount Pleasant explaining the constitutionality of using the word “Christmas” for its Dickens festival.  City officials changed the name of its Dickens Christmas Festival to “Dickens Holiday Festival” in its advertising materials to be sent to a local school district after the school district enacted a...

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif - Initially denied the right by school officials to share a Christmas song with his classmates during “show and tell,” a first-grade student has been permitted to participate after an Alliance Defense Fund attorney sent a letter on his behalf to Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Jean Brown.   “The First Amendment guarantees that the free speech rights of all students, including those who are Christian, are entitled to protection.  Those rights do not end at the schoolhouse gate,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Heather Gebelin Hacker.  “Any person familiar with the Constitution would recognize that this student’s...