Free Republic

Once again we are in the Christmas season, and the coal-in-your-stocking crowd is back at it. This year the American Humanist Association is putting up bus ads in selected cities that say, "No god? No problem! Be good for goodness sake." The picture accompanying the text shows a group of young people wearing Santa hats. Ho, ho, ho. A second front was launched by the virulently anti-God group "Freedom from Religion." It is celebrating Christmas in Las Vegas with ads that say, "Yes, Virginia, there is no God." Nice. The question is, why bother? Why spend money at Christmas time...

MORROW, Ga. -- A bad elf is going to be on Santa's naughty list. Morrow police and mall security cleared out Southlake Mall after they said a man dressed like an elf told Santa he had a bomb. Police say 45-year-old William C. Caldwell III got in line at Southlake Mall Wednesday evening to have his picture taken with Santa. "He (Caldwell) stood in line with kids and told Santa he wanted like a picture taken with him, at that point he told Santa he had dynamite in his bag," said Morrow police Capt. James Callaway.

Perhaps the most anticipated popular fiction offering of the year for readers of this column is Heart of the Assassin, (Scribner, $25.95) Robert Ferrigno's final volume in his trilogy about a future America split by civil war and dominated by Islamic rule. http://frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36278#disqus_thread

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...

Sales of religious Christmas cards are soaring as shoppers rediscover the real meaning of the season. Church officials and retailers believe that the trend has been fuelled by the global economic downturn, which they say has encouraged people to rethink their values. And the pattern on the high street has been mirrored by an increase in the number of people attending church. More parents are also choosing to name their children after biblical figures, with Thomas, Daniel, Joshua and James all appearing in this year's top ten baby boys' names. Selfridges revealed that sales of traditional cards are up 30...