Posted on 12/10/2006 10:10:46 PM PST by goldstategop
The combat called Christmas
Last year, in John Gibson's book, ''The War on Christmas,'' he discussed a growing cross-country counter culture (represented in every stratum of our society) that is on a mission to bring down the Christian-version of Christmas.
Notable evidence included the following:
In Rhode Island, local officials barred Christians from joining others in decorating the City Hall's lawn.
Arizona school officials declared it unconstitutional for a student to cite any references to the Christian history of Christmas in a class project.
A New Jersey school banned traditional Christmas carols, even instrumental renditions.
In Illinois, state government workers were prohibited from exclaiming ''Merry Christmas'' at work. WND reported on this warfare as far back as 2002.
This year we see even more confirmation of this Christmas-culture war, particularly being led by its strongest advocate, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).
Same ol' ACLU song and dance
The ACLU has been true to form this December in opposing any and all Christian practices and symbols in public arenas and elsewhere.
So far this season it has already muscled the Berkeley City Council to move a Christmas nativity off public property.
The ACLU also sued the Wilson County School System outside of Nashville, Tenn., because its Christmas program included ''Christian themes and songs'' what the ACLU calls ''unconstitutional and illegal'' acts through which its plaintiffs have ''suffered irreparable damage.''
Alongside its crusade to suppress Christmas, the ACLU of Tennessee also found time to write Cumberland County Mayor Brock Hill to assure the removal from the courthouse sidewalk of a wooden carved statue depicting Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
Just this past week, the ACLU opposed the Winston-Salem City Council's practice of opening its meetings with a prayer referencing Jesus or Christ.
Thankfully, along with the majority of veterans and patriots, I was very pleased to read of the ruling against the ACLU's mission to bring down the cross at Mt. Soledad's Veteran's Memorial near San Diego.
Religious paralysis was not the Framers' intent
The ACLU tries to justify and hide behind these anti-Christian crusades by saying its motivation is to preserve First Amendment and minority rights.
The first problem is that its not equally protecting the rights of Christians, when they are in the minority. If the ACLU wants to fight for the underdogs, then why not battle for the Christian voice that is being progressively suppressed every Christmas?
The second problem is that they are not preserving First Amendment rights but are perverting the subordinate Establishment Clause (which prevents government from establishing a national religion, like there was in England) and the Free Exercise Clause (which preserves our rights to worship as we want).
Both clauses were intended to safeguard religious liberty, not separate church and state. Nor was their objective to keep religious symbols away from public places! As is often noted, the Framers were seeking to guarantee a freedom of religion, not a freedom from religion.
As Judge Roy Moore concluded in another WND article:
''The issue was addressed 150 years ago when the Senate Judiciary Committee, while considering the Congressional chaplaincy, said, '[The Founders] had no fear or jealousy of religion itself, nor did they wish to see us an irreligious people; they did not intend to prohibit a just expression of religious devotion by the legislators of the nation, even in their public character as legislators; they did not intend to spread over all the public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the dead and revolting spectacle of atheistical apathy.'''
Time to stop ACLU tyranny
The ACLU is not anti-religion, just anti-Christian. By definition, it's the American Civil Liberties Union. By action, it has become the Abolishing Christian Legacy Union.
The ACLU will assure Muslim clerics and imams the right to pray on planes, fight for an atheist's rights to remove a cross, stand beside pro-abortionists, help illegal aliens cross our borders, and establish rights for the sexual deviant by forming the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, but what is it doing for Christians and Christmas censorship?
While allegedly fighting against the tyranny of the majority, the ACLU itself rules religiously by litigation, lobbying, and supporting counter-culture Christian movements.
So who died and appointed the ACLU as America's religious constitutional watchdog?
Membership for the ACLU is only 500,000. America's population is 300 million. I think it's time that we helped them feel their size!
I suggest the rest of us follow the passion of Thomas Jefferson, who spoke these words that are etched on the very wall of his memorial in Washington, D.C.: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
ACLU: Out of touch out of their minds
The fact is the ACLU is simply out of touch with mainstream America, as demonstrated recently by a group of Texas University students' placement of an ''ACLU Nativity Scene,'' complete with Gary and Joseph (instead of Mary and Joseph) and the three wise men: Lenin, Marx, and Stalin a ''tribute'' to ACLU founder Roger Baldwin's support of communism.
(Is this display an extreme Texan reaction or a symptom of an underlying wave of a pro-Christmas culture that is tired of being bullied around? I wholeheartedly believe the latter!)
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) noted that ''an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose censoring Christmas,'' citing the following national polls:
95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas (Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, 2005).
90 percent of Americans recognize Christmas as the birthday of Jesus Christ (Gallup, 2000).
88 percent of Americans say it is okay for people to wish others "Merry Christmas" and the majority of Americans are more likely to wish someone they just met "Merry Christmas" rather than "Happy Holidays" (CNN/USA Today/Gallup, 2004).
87 percent of Americans believe nativity scenes should be allowed on public property (Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, 2003). The ADF also has 930 pro-Christmas attorneys waiting to help any community in need.
''J'' to the rescue!
Thank God for organizations which are fighting against the censoring of Christianity and Christmas, like the ADF, The Thomas More Law Center and The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
The ACLJ has a great ''Christmas Resource Center'' where one can find information sheets on what is permissible in public displays of Christmas and how students can properly express their religious beliefs in school during this Christmas season.
I don't know if it was intentional, but I find it interesting that the only letter distinguishing the acronym of the ACLU and the ACLJ is the letter ''J,'' which stands for ''Justice.''
To me, it also stands for ''Jesus,'' without whom there would be no Christmas at all.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
LOL! Good one.
Good article!
Good to see guys like this are using their influential voices to help America on issues like this!
Thanks potlatch
I was a "sleeper" member of the ACLU long ago
And learned lots of interesting things??
A few
Today I'd learn more
I've got some "sleepers" embedded at Sarah Brady's sleezy money machines -
Hmmm, you've stuffed some pajamas into Sara's money machines huh?
Too late at night to be serious.
bump for later
I made some contacts with contacts back a while
Serious?
Me?
Arizona school officials declared it unconstitutional for a student to cite any references to the Christian history of Christmas in a class project.
Freedom of speech.
What I did for my Christmas vacation .....
More and more it sounds like these 'PC' people/morons need to be beaten with rods.
This is what happens when they stop teaching the Constitution in schools. Every petty tyrant and gutless academic can lie to the public about whats 'unconstitutional' and not be laughed to scorn by a majority (and fired for their presumption).
"The ACLU has been [...] opposing any and all Christian practices and symbols in public arenas."
I'm pretty sure the ACLU doesn't care if you and 10,000 of your friends gather in a parking lot and sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". In fact, I think they'd do anything they could to defend your right to do so.
Heck, the ACLU loves religion. They've been defending it for 70 years or so. They're the sort who think "If you can't praise Jesus right up on the steps of City Hall if you want to, then the world is a scary place".
Eh. YMMV and probably does.
Chuck Norris BUMP!
There's no such thing as "evolution" - - Chuck Norris decides what species live or die.
When Chuck Norris jumps in the ocean, he doesn't get wet - - the ocean gets Chuck Norrised.
As a Jew, I have to say that I've become "irreparably damaged" by the stupidity of reading what the ACLU is continually doing... The shame infliced upon me by these jackals, supposedly in the name of my, and other religions. How do I sue the ACLU?
Mark
Awesome, two cool articles about Chuck Norris in one morning! That's gotta be some kind of a record!
Great article by him, he's as smart as he is tough, and he even came up with another new nickname for the ACLU!
i think Taco Bell should cater the next aclu convention
Ya gotta do more of this. I think its a riot! thanks
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.