GRINCH CAUSES SCENE (closeup of the American melting pot)

NY POST ^ | 12/10/05 | DEVIN SMITH

[Liz]

A LAWSUIT IS BORN: The furor over this Nativity scene....comes just days after a Christmas/holiday-tree flap in Manhasset..... Photo: Veronique Louis

Mitchell Pashkin sought a court order to take down both seasonal symbols because they indicated the town was promoting religion. "This isn't an attack on Christmas. It's not about Christianity itself. This is solely about respect for the law. This is about the Bill of Rights," he said.

The dispute threatened to cast a pall over last night's tree-lighting ceremony at Huntington Village Green, where officials were to switch on lights on a 50-foot tree, just above the Nativity scene and menorah.

But in court, U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler urged the two sides not to make a federal case out of it and reach a compromise instead.

They did: Town officials agreed to post signs showing clearly that both symbols were not provided by the town but donated privately........

The Huntington flap comes after a dispute erupted in Manhasset, where a town supervisor, who is Jewish, objected to a Catholic priest's blessing at a tree-lighting ceremony last week.

After the Rev. Nick Zientarski's blessing, North Hempstead Supervisor John Kaiman told the crowd, "This is in no way a religious ceremony," and that it wasn't a Christmas tree, but a "holiday tree."

Yesterday, Kaiman said, "I overreacted. I was trying not to offend anybody and ended up offending everybody."

Kaiman, who was just re-elected, said he and "Father Nick" are getting along so well now that he asked the priest to swear him in when he begins a new term on Jan. 2.

[Liz]

Kaiman said, "I overreacted (against the Christmas scene). I was trying not to offend anybody and ended up offending everybody." Kaiman, who was just re-elected, said he and "Father Nick" are getting along so well now that he asked the priest to swear him in when he begins a new term on Jan. 2.

The American melting pot closeup. Kaiman is a real sweetheart.

Nice that Christian-haters on-the-march keep getting thwarted.

[McGavin999]

This needs to stop before we end up like France where they have nothing to believe and end up with nothing worth having.

We simply can't live in a world where everyone has the "right" not to be offended. It's about time we started telling people to back off.

[IronJack]

This is solely about respect for the law. This is about the Bill of Rights

You mean the clause in the First Amendment that forbids Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion?

[Appalled but Not Surprised]

Thanks to global cooling, it will be Always Winter...

and thanks to these leftist nazis, it will be Never Christmas.

C.S. Lewis. Smart man.

[milford421]

"You mean the clause in the First Amendment that forbids Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion?"

Exactly.

Mitchell needs a few sensitivity training courses to help him get over his bigotry.

[Liz]

The prayer of Central Christian Church pastor before the Kansas House of Representatives (on the internet for about five years):

Heavenly Father, we come before you to ask your forgiveness. We seek your direction and your guidance. We know your word says, "Woe to those who call evil good." But that's what we've done.

We've lost our spiritual equilibrium. We have inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We've exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We've neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

[kindred]

[Nice that Christian-haters on-the-march keep getting thwarted.]

I would say the opposite is true, 20 years ago this man would have been put out of town. Today, he is part of the anti-christian left wing communist, neo nazi secular,self destructive,Christ hating, money worshiping, foolish left wing liberalism movement that CONTINUES TO DESTROY ALL OF US and our constitutional rights using marxist useful brainwashed fools government school brainwashed fools like him.
They have no idea; they win, everybody loses.

[dennisw]

Jews should not make jackasses of themselves over Christmas. But plenty of Liz's fellow Christians have gone atheist and they also try to negate it. Via lawsuits and instance on holiday trees etc.

[texasbluebell]

Mitchell needs a few sensitivity training courses to help him get over his bigotry.

How is it that people can spot bigotry against every minority that exists, except NO one can seem to figure out that there is a whole lot of bigotry going on against the biggest majority in this country?

Savage has a word for people like this -- it's called Christophobes.

[milford421]

Yes, you are correct.

"Savage has a word for people like this -- it's called Christophobes"

That says it.

[Just mythoughts]

Government run schools on display, interesting how the Bill of Rights has been completely perverted in some minds.

I can't help but think of Abraham asking the Heavenly Father the number of righteous required within Sodom to prevent destruction. Then again Christ did say His followers should not expect better treatment than He received and He was perfect, not one of us can claim that. Christ did warn us about those who sit in the seat of Moses, the law giver.

[Liz]

....the clause in the First Amendment that forbids Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion?....

Oh that............(snicker)......they conveniently keep "forgetting" that part.

[Liz]

Mmmmmm, true, but with reservations.

There is a rude awakening going on for the people you describe.

These individuals have clearly crossed the line into class warfare, and they are beginning to understand that it won't be tolerated.

They are waking up to the fact that they have been allowed to continue only because of the magnanimity and forbearance of Christians practicing what they preach, out of the goodness of their hearts.

A new day is dawning.

[Liz]

So true.......it's certainly a tug of war on all sides.

My Jewish neighbor wanted to do the right thing, and was very discouraged having been criticized by her family for displaying a lovely lighted Christmas tree, even as her Hanukkah candle shined brightly next to the tree.

[Laz711]

Saw the movie last night, it was the best book to movie I have seen.

[satchmodog9]

Also nice how those who want to rid our nation of religion will side use other religions to further their agenda. All the religions should watch their collective asses. These people are pitting one against the other in an attempt get rid of them all.

[Maceman]

I was raised a Jew and spent 20 years as an atheist. I immersed myself in Buddhism, a little Hinduism, and finally came to believe in God in my 40s.

I am not, and have never been, a Christian.

But I love Christmas. I remember in the 50s and even the 1960s, what a magic feeling the Christmas season had. There was a lot of public Christian symbolism, including mangers and crosses in the town square -- along, of course, with Santa Claus and Frosty. "Silent Night" was ubiquitous, as was almost all of the wonderful pop and traditional music associated with the Christmas Season.

Even though my family was Jewish, the story of Jesus' life and death, and the focus on reverance as a foundation for the joy of the Christmas season touched me deeply.

The Progressive secularists and their lawyers have had much success in driving the holy spirit out of public view and public discourse -- to nobody's real benefit. All they have really accomplished is to replace good will with grumpy mean-spiritedness. They have kicked Christ out of Christmas, and have traded away good wll towards men and women in exchange for a soulless, petulant, self-righteously cynical low-grade misanthropy.

And then, to justify their narcissitically snobbish disdain, they complain that Christmas is too commercial and that it has no meaning.

That it's all just about inconvenience and going into debt and driving yourself nuts just to be nice to a bunch of family members and friends and perhaps business associates you probably don't really like that much anyway.

My 1st grade daughter has weekly music classes in her pubic school and I have been stunned to learn that she has not once heard the song "Silent Night." (I've since introduced her to Bing Crosby's version.)

Western Christianity is so core to the founding principles, traditional culture and social organization to our nation that without it being the vasly mainstream world-view throughout centuries of our nation's history, the USA would never come to exist and prosper, and all the greatness it has contributed to the world would have been lost for centuries, if not forever.

I would love to see a US President declare Dember 25 not only as Christmas, but also as American Christian Heritage Day.

It is in no way an establishment of religion for the US government to recognize and respect that without Christianity as the vasly mainstream world-view throughout American history, our nation would never come to exist and prosper to a level never imagined.

I would love to see a US presiden de

[Maceman]

Sorry for the hiccup a the end.

[weegee]

I'm going to carry some steaks and catnip with me whenever I go out in public...

They might come in handy should I be seized and thrown to the lions in the name of political correctness.

[weegee]

The left needs to realize that freedom of religion is not freedom from religion.

I want to see a push for separation of Atheism and State (Atheism is the belief that there absolutely is no god, why should their "No God" god take centerstage in American institutions?).