Free Republic

It begins… A Florida school not only banned Christmas but banned everything associated with Christmas including Christmas colors… Because someone might be offended.

'Bonkers' Police Drop The Word Christmas From Poster To Avoid Upsetting Other Faiths JONATHAN PETRE 26th December 2009 Mixed-up message: How the police poster appears at railway stations across the country British Transport Police have dropped the word ‘Christmas’ from a national publicity poster to avoid upsetting people who do not ‘buy into’ the festival. The word was proposed as part of a slogan on the poster, which is designed to alert people to the extra number of transport police on duty over the festive period. The slogan – devised by an advertising company commissioned by the Transport Police –...

Mariah Jordat, 8, was reading her Bible during quiet time at Madison Park Elementary School in Oldbridge, N.J., when her teacher told her to put the book away. Mariah put her Bible under her desk, but that wasn't away enough. The teacher banished the book to the student's backpack. The persecution hurt her feelings and confused her, said Michelle Jordat, the little girl's mother. "Why would my teacher say that I can't read the Bible when I'm not bothering anybody else?" It's ridiculous for a school to forbid a child, let alone one at such an impressionable age, to read...

The company that celebrates Earth Day, Gay Day, Diversity Day, Muzzie Day and every other made-up liberal crapday, can't even bring themselves to honor Christmas.

Ah, Christmastime. Manger scenes and mistletoe, trees and tinsel, Santa and celebration, gift-giving and gratitude...and the ACLU roasting traditions on an open fire. Sadly, the last thing has become as much a seasonal expectation as the others, and the ACLU's  practice of suing our culture into oblivion has gotten a lot of ink. Yet there is another attack on Christmas -- actually, another attack on Christianity itself. This less well-known attack could ultimately prove more damaging than the usual atheistic assaults. And it's embraced by religionists themselves. I'm sure you've heard the charges. Christmas is a "pagan holiday," they say....

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 war on Christmas - it's a Commie thing" Matt Barber - Guest Columnist - 12/22/2009 10:25:00 AM SNIPPET: "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)." SNIPPET: "Ronald Reagan once spoke to this noteworthy historical factoid during a Christmas radio broadcast about the Ukraine's war on Christmas. The great Gipper noted: "When the Ukraine was free and not under Soviet...

Fifteen-year-old Katarina Keen won't sing along to "Silent Night" or "Listen to the Stars," two Christian songs planned for her choir's upcoming Christmas concert at Borger High School. But she will sing "Jingle Bells" and "A Carol in Winter." Katarina and her family are Wiccan. The Borger High choirs have given a concert every December, with traditional religious Christmas songs, but this is the first time in director Johnny Miller's 23-year career that any Borger student had issues with the religious themes in the music, he said. A concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday will feature a ninth- and 10th-grade choir...

(Bush vs. Obama Christmas Card): The Bush card: "multitudes of heaven worship you" Obama: "Have a joyous holiday season" (Photos)

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...

Is the Obama administration so afraid to offend people of other beliefs that they will seriously consider obliterating basic American traditions? I can see the headlines now: "Gate-crashers Enter White House; Jesus Kept Out!" Except it almost happened. Really. I was reading the New York Times Sunday Styles section yesterday (yep, I'm straight) when I came across an article about embattled White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers -- she's the one who broke with previous White House tradition by inviting herself to the state dinner when she should have been at the door keeping out the loopy riff-raff. But in...

WATERBURY — In the weeks leading up to Walsh Elementary School's Dec. 21 "winter celebration," staff will carefully avoid religious and secular symbols of Christmas such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Walsh Principal Erik Brown has banned Christmas parties in classrooms and many decorations since arriving at the school five years ago. These, he said, can offend some students, who would be forced to leave while celebrations are ongoing. "It is a state law that a public school can't knowingly exclude children," Brown said. "This is not a church. It's a school and it's a public school. I have...

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...

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.

NORTH ANDOVER — First it was the menorah on the town common. Now it's the Merry Christmas sign on the fire station. The town has put an end to a longtime holiday tradition ordering firefighters to take down their homemade Merry Christmas sign from outside the fire station after people complained. The sign had been up for a week before it was taken down Friday. Fire Chief William Martineau said the sign was made by firefighters some 50 years ago and was never an issue before. "I think Christmas is officially a religious holiday. But to all of us, it...

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.

Thanksgiving is over and Black Friday has arrived. With the Christmas season now semiofficially upon us, tradition dictates that consumers flood shopping malls and online marketplaces to buy everything in sight. At the same time, politically motivated busybodies stop at nothing to distract from, deny or delete any references to that Jesus guy who may or may not have inspired the holiday known as Xmas. The "X" stands for we can't remember what. Every year, chain stores, schools, local town councils, advertisers and others needlessly put themselves in the middle of the Christmas censorship debate in an effort to appease...

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.

Downtown Savannah and Broughton Street will transform into a winter wonderland Friday, complete with holiday movies, cookies and milk with Santa Claus, a skating rink and snow. Savannah Holly Days is a two-day event that offers both visitors and locals a chance to enjoy the city and all of its beauty and offerings during the holidays. "When you think about what makes a great city, it's when the locals and visitors can come together and enjoy the same thing," said Joseph Marinelli, president of the Savannah Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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...