Free Republic

The Bible's account of the night Jesus was born is noted for some well-known characters at the Bethlehem manger, including the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and some shepherds following the instructions of an angel. The famous wise men were not present, as they showed up later when Jesus was a young child in a house. And as far as the New Testament indicates, there weren't any lesbians there either. Now a Christian church in America's heartland is helping redefine the story, as its most-recent living Nativity scene in December featured two women instead of a man and a women starring...

After Kim Gaines found a small nativity scene in a box of old Christmas decorations, she decided it would look nice on her desk in the main office at Urbana High School. Almost a week after she placed the figures on her desk, the school's secretary of eight years said she was called into Principal Kathy Campagnoli's office, where Campagnoli said staff members had told her the display promotes Christianity and that Gaines should take it down. Gaines obliged and removed the nativity scene. "I didn't want a big fight on my hands, but I was very upset over it,"...

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...

ATHENS, Texas - The signs of Christmas are everywhere in downtown Athens. Lights, trees, and Santa and his reindeer line the streets. But it's the nativity scene on the lawn at the county courthouse that has caused concern. "I just don't understand it, to be honest with you," said Henderson County Judge Richard Sanders. "I'm just confused about it." Sanders says residents haven't complained. The issues were brought up by the Freedom From Religion foundation, a Wisconsin non-profit group who sent a letter to the county this week, calling the display unconstitutional and demanding it come down. "I'm an old...

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.

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...

American Atheists announced Monday on their “No God Blog” a new billboard campaign in their continued effort in “laboring for the civil liberties of atheists,” but in reality just upsetting those who disagree with their theological stance. A press release for the American Atheists’ new holiday season billboard campaign reads: “American Atheists announced today that their new billboard is going up in several locations nationwide, including the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel: the same location as last year’s famous ‘You KNOW it’s a MYTH’ billboard. The new billboard will also be going up in Ohio and Florida. This...

St. Lawrence Council 10281 in South Amboy, NJ. Credit: Knights of Columbus. New Haven, Conn., Dec 16, 2011 / 03:03 am (CNA).- The Knights of Columbus' annual campaign reminding millions of Americans to “Keep Christ in Christmas” is in full swing with radio ads, signs, billboards, Nativity scenes and Christmas cards.“In a society where Christmas has often become shorthand for shopping, many who celebrate Christmas can lose sight of its true meaning,” Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said Dec. 15. “Those who celebrate Christmas give gifts to each other because it is the day on which we celebrate the...

Thousands of Texans, including the state attorney general and the governor, have sent a clear message to Wisconsin atheists who enjoy intimidating small towns into removing nativity scenes. At least 5,000 showed up at a rally supporting Henderson County officials who have refused to comply with the group’s demand that they remove a nativity scene from the Athens, Texas, courthouse lawn. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said that if the Wisconsin atheists sue as threatened, his office would come to the county’s defense. Texas’ governor, Rick Perry, also said he would fight to support the county, noted the San Antonio...

Americans overwhelmingly prefer the traditional “Merry Christmas” greeting over the “Happy Holidays” that some stores and businesses require their employees to utilize at this time of year.  A new Marist Poll of 1,026 adults nationwide finds that 64 percent – nearly two-thirds – think the appropriate greeting should be “Merry Christmas,” while 31 percent favored “Happy Holidays.” The sentiment was strongest in the Midwest (70 percent) -- but income level made no difference -- with the same level of support (64 percent) for those who made under $50,000 as those who made over $50,000 a year. People 45 or older...

The War On Christmas Is Real, And The Atheist Barbarians Are Winning It By Tim Stanley December 23rd, 2011 Militant atheists, like Richard Dawkins, celebrate the spiritual decline of Christmas. There are two wars on Christmas: one public and baloney, one conceptual and terrifying. The first usually involves a group of “Bah! Humbug!” atheists trying to ruin everybody’s fun. Take this story from Santa Monica, California. For decades Palisades Park has displayed traditional religious tableaux at Christmas – the Virgin and Child, the three wise men, shepherds etc. But this year a lottery system was introduced to allow other religious...

<p>Santa Claus has been “suspended” at one New Jersey school, after some parents complained it was religious discrimination.  Picture day with Santa is a long-standing tradition at Calabro Elementary School.  But this year, one parent, who is Jewish, pointed out other traditions weren’t being represented, reports CBS 2’s Kathryn Brown.</p>

I’m not sure why ex-Senator and current Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee keeps getting elected, but I’m quite sure he offends me. I truly can’t stand seeing his face, and you don’t have to ask why. You see, that’s the way offensiveness is: It’s completely subjective and not constrained by rhyme or reason. Along with a lot of other people, however, I now certainly have one very logical reason to chafe at Chafee: His decision to call the 17-foot-tall blue spruce Christmas tree in his state capitol’s rotunda a “holiday tree” despite opposition from residents and lawmakers. This, mind you,...

For a number of Americans, the Christmas season is a time for joy and love, but for others, it’s an opportunity to stage a war against Christianity. The latest battle entails a blasphemous nativity scene from a group of atheists, which they have defended as a response to counteract the Christian “War on the Constitution.”  Wisconsin is once again at the center of a major dispute, this time because Governor Scott Walker made the mistake of referring to the “holiday” spruce as a “Christmas tree.” That prompted the Freedom from Religion Foundation to call Walker “a Teabagger governor wearing religion...

The big black letters on the water tower that looms over this small South Jersey town announce “Everybody likes Pitman.” Except that someone doesn’t. Or so say many of the borough’s residents. Located just 17 miles southeast of Philadelphia, the Gloucester County town has the rural feel of fictional Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life” — the kind of town where the barber shop is called just that in a window sign and has a working barber pole spinning out front. There is no snow on the ground, but wreaths encircle lamp posts like halos, the marquee in front...

Walgreens is the latest store to return to explicit references to Christmas, switching its position a day after some Christian groups threatened to boycott over its generic holiday wording. The American Family Association and the Liberty Counsel—Christian groups that maintain lists of “naughty” and “nice” retailers based on which stores reference Christmas—applauded Walgreens’ switch, along with several other big stores who are coming off the naughty list for the first time in years.

Walker said Monday that the evergreen decorated with ornaments and adorned with a star in the center of Wisconsin's Capitol Rotunda is a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree as it's been called for the past 25 years. The roughly 30-foot-tall tree was called a Christmas tree from the first display in 1916 until 1985. That's when politicians bowed to concerns about government endorsing religion and started referring to it as a holiday tree. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has opposed the term Christmas tree, saying it offends nonreligious people and amounts to a government endorsement of Christianity. The...

(NewsCore) - A Rhode Island lawmaker is calling Gov. Lincoln Chafee "Governor Grinch" for defying politicians and deciding that the state would have a "holiday tree" instead of a "Christmas tree." The governor defended his decision by arguing that it is in keeping with the state's founding in 1636 by religious dissident Roger Williams as a haven for tolerance -- where government and religion were kept separate. Chafee, an independent, said in a statement issued Tuesday that his stand was a continuation of past practice, "and does not represent a change of course on my part." But Rep. Doreen Costa,...