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....

Driving through the tiny rural town of Athens, Texas, and you’d be hard pressed to find something that might catch national attention -- or so it was until about a week ago. An hour and a half outside of Dallas, the Athens town square is dominated by the county courthouse, and this time of year, Christmas decorations are on each corner. But it is the nativity scene across the street from the Taco Bell that has caused controversy. It started with a simple letter. As Jefferson County commissioner Joe Hall tells it, he received the shock of his life when...

The city of Santa Monica has allowed an elaborate nativity scene in its Palisades Park each Christmas for nearly 60 years, but officials are ending the tradition this year after an atheist set up his own non-religious display and caused an uproar. Now, the churches behind the nativity are suing in federal court and claim the city violated their freedom of speech by stopping the holiday tradition. A court hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles could decide the fate of the Christian tableau for the upcoming season.

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla.,- This year, a Nativity scene in Deerfield Beach, Fla., features a "Festivus pole" made of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans, as well as a Menorah. The pole, a reference to the Dec. 23 atheist "holiday" that became a pop culture hit after being featured in a "Seinfeld" episode, was installed Thursday by activist blogger Chaz Stevens, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. Stevens said he had been trying to get the city to remove the Nativity scene for five years, and this year he decided to ask for space to express his own beliefs. "It's just 23...

A reporter for a small Florida newspaper decided that he wanted to see if he could get the city of Chipley to remove its nativity scene from public property because he claims it is somehow against the US Constitution. There is that unbiased media we are so in love with, eh? Reporter” Randal Seyler of the Washington County News decided to try and use his position in the media to destroy a community nativity scene when he noticed that the decoration was put up at city hall. This biased, troublemaker ran to city hall and warned them he was going...

CLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) -- Southern California authorities are investigating vandalism of a church's Nativity display that includes depictions of gay and lesbian couples. The damage at Claremont United Methodist Church occurred late Saturday or Sunday morning. . . . Claremont police Sgt. Jason Walters tells the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin it's a hate crime.

The lesbian "rock opera" Jesus Has Two Mommies will show this Christmas season at the Somerville Theatre near Boston, MA. Jesus Has Two Mommies dares to distort the sacred mysteries of Christmas, showing Jesus born to two lesbians, Mary and Josephine. Among blasphemous mockeries of God, the virgin birth, and the Holy Family, Jesus Has Two Mommies portrays Mary and Josephine's affair at a lesbian bar, the "real Christmas story."According to press reports: "Luckily the trio is up to the challenge. The trio consisted of God... Jesus and the angel Gay-briel. ...Blessing Faith [Faith Soloway, the author] with a Psalm...

"...The state Department of Management Services has notified a Tallahassee-based group called The Satanic Temple that it won't be allowed to put up a religious-themed poster alongside other holiday displays, including a Nativity scene, and other secular displays that have been put up since the Christian-themed first display was approved in November.... ...The reaction to the nativity scene -- set up by the Florida Prayer Network on Dec. 3 -- drew national attention and barbs from Steve Colbert and Jon Stewart when South Florida political blogger Chaz Stevens responded by stacking up a 6-foot-tall "Festivus" pole made of Pabst Blue...

PETA billboard coming down The co-owner of the sign company, responding to phoned complaints and two acts of vandalism, says his firm is not in "the debate business." 07:57 AM EST on Friday, December 5, 2003 BY KAREN A. DAVIS Journal Staff Writer EAST PROVIDENCE -- The company that owns the billboard on Route 195 that a national animal-rights group rented to promote vegetarianism as "An Immaculate Conception" -- complete with the image of the Virgin Mary cradling a dead chicken -- has decided to take down the advertisement. The owners from Murray Outdoor Communications, of Shrewsbury, Mass., informed...

The national advocacy group In God We Trust today blasted the atheist American Humanist Association for its ad campaign mocking the Christmas holiday and American's who believe in God. The ad campaign asks, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness sake," and will be targeted at New York and Washington commuters. "These ads are a deliberate attack on American traditions, beliefs and customs by a United Nation's affiliated group that espouses a radical anti-American agenda and is funded by an zealot who believes that the U.S. is a backwards nation full of imbeciles," says In God We...

Somehow Christmas seemed darker last year, bereft of its usual radiance. Like a heroic soldier, it was left alone to fend off a platoon of barrages against it. Shots came from many quarters – all contesting the placement of Christmas symbols in public areas. No protests came, however, from Orthodox Jews, nor those who, while not Orthodox, remain traditionally-valued. And that is because this group understands and appreciates the ameliorating influence that religion provides civic life, so long as the religion does not call for, as in the case of radical Islam, the oppression of “infidels.” What better use of...

Just when I thought merely advertising religion in the newspaper was bad, the fundamentalist forces that be are back at it again, putting billboards up all over the city. In response to the notorious Holiday Vs. Christmas crusade, fundamentalist religious groups have started abusing their right to freedom of speech. Signs with slogans such as "He's what the season is all about - Christ", "Christ: the reason for the season", and most directly "Keep the Christ in Christmas" have flooded the precious advertising space needed for true Christian values: materialism. I have nothing against religious beliefs or freedom of speech,...

PAGOSA SPRINGS - In a town in scenic southwestern Colorado homeowners are battling over whether a Christmas wreath that includes a peace sign is an anti-Iraq war protest or even a promotion of Satan. "We have had three or four complaints. Some people have kids in Iraq and they are sensitive," said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He also said some believe it is a symbol of Satan. Jeff Heitz, of the association board, sent a letter to Lisa Jensen saying: "Loma Linda residents are offended by the peace sign displayed on the...

<p>A group called the American Atheists has paid for a huge billboard on Route 495 outside the Lincoln Tunnel in North Bergen, N.J., that is raising some eyebrows.</p> <p>The billboard shows a silhouette of the Three Wise Men approaching the Nativity, with the words: "You KNOW it's a Myth / This Season, Celebrate REASON!"</p>

Few people engaged in the "War on Christmas" are aware that at one time it was a crime in Massachusetts to celebrate Christmas. Oh sure, some will say, count on liberal Massachusetts to pass a law against Christmas. But it was Calvinist Massachusetts, in the days of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, the Pilgrims and Puritans, that established penalties for the observance of Christmas Day "by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way." The noisiest opposition to public celebration of Christmas today comes from professed agnostics and atheists, particularly those seeking "freedom from religion." But there are still...

Obama administration proposes 15 cent Christmas tree tax By Alicia M. Cohn - 11/09/11 09:17 AM ET The Obama administration is proposing a new tax on Christmas trees to fund a board promoting the holiday trees. The Christmas Tree Promotion Board would be funded by a new 15 cent per tree tax on large-scale producers of Christmas trees. A group of Christmas tree producers and importers worried about the skyrocketing use of artificial trees proposed the new board. Under the proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the board would seek to revitalize the marketing and image of fresh-cut Christmas...

Dec. 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The ‘war on Christmas’ is by now a long-hallowed tradition in North America. Every year, starting in November, atheists and conservatives battle over nativity scenes and Christmas trees on public property. And we have the ‘naughty or nice’ lists, the boycotts, and letters targeting retailers who try to cash in on Christmas without acknowledging the reason for their annual windfall. It’s a worthy battle and one that I’m happy to play some small part in as a pro-life, pro-family, and “pro-Christmas” journalist. But I think it’s important we recognize that what we have come to...

Anyone offended by public displays of Christmas needs to see a psychiatrist. Are we clear on this? You are a loon if the sight of baby Jesus arouses anger or sadness in you. Get help. This brings us to the governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee. He recently told me on national television that the reason he will not use the word "Christmas" in describing the state Christmas tree is that the word might offend non-Christians. The governor calls the state-purchased symbol a "holiday tree." My reply to the governor was that by excluding the word "Christmas," he might...

Exactly 150 years ago this Christmas Day, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem “Christmas Bells.” It would later provide the lyrics for the familiar carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Most of those who love the song – which has been recorded by arists ranging from Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Kate Smith to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Ann Margaret – know little about its backstory. Indeed, the lyrics actually were written by Longfellow during a time of despair. The poet had learned that his first-born son, Charles, a lieutenant in the Union Army during the Civil...

Three women in Ohio want to make sure people understand that it is OK to say "Merry Christmas" because they said they are tired of hearing "Happy Holidays." The women raised enough money to put their message on billboards that the women think Jesus Christ might want to convey.