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ACLU Judges Nativity Scene as "Non-Biblical," Drops Lawsuit
Team Tominthebox News Network® ^ | 13 December, 2008 | Brother Slawson

Posted on 12/17/2008 7:52:32 AM PST by topcat54

Baxter, Tennessee— After a long battle of back and forth name calling, sits-ins, and a news media frenzy the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation on Friday dropped a lawsuit against the small town of Baxter, the county seat of Smith County, Tennessee.

Complaints were first reported to the ACLU-TN on August 24th after Baxter County Courthouse employees erected a nativity and decorated a Christmas tree on the front lawn of the courthouse to begin Christmas celebrations.

“Religious displays in front of homes and churches are protected by the first amendment,” Harry Reasoning, ACLU-TN spokesman, was quoted in local papers in mid-September. “But the courthouse is a governmental property that cannot be used to promote religious beliefs.”

Courthouse clerk Brian Clampett was at the forefront of the battle in support of the display he helped create. In October, Clampett felt threatened by the “outsiders” and was quoted saying, “We don’t need no one coming in here telling us how to do things. I’m the one who made that star, and I hung it up there,” said Clampett pointing to a large mass of star-shaped aluminum suspended from a pin oak with 60lb test line approximately 20 feet above the manger.

Along the way, the battle of words turned physical. One scuffle near the 3 kings' camel holding pen, frightened one camel enough so that it bolted through the railings and remained loose for over three days during the week of Halloween.

But it has all come to an end. The ACLU-TN officially announced on Friday that their research has deemed the nativity scene as “secularized enough.” “After careful research, we have discovered that most scenes on the courthouse lawn can be described more accurately as American tradition than religious in nature,” said Reasoning.

In a written statement, Reasoning explained, “Most scenes have no Biblical support, including (1) Mary’s riding on a donkey, (2) the appearance of an innkeeper, (3) the use of a small feeding trough that is just the right size to hold a baby, (4) the idea that shepherds brought sheep out of the fields to see the baby, (5) the notion that there were only 3 men from the east, (6) the thought that the men from the east were kings wearing crowns, (7) the conclusion that the men from the east saw a baby in a manger, and (8) the speculation that Shrek was one of the wise men. Therefore, given that the scene is largely non-Biblical or religious in nature, we are dropping the lawsuit.”


TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: aclu; joke; satire

1 posted on 12/17/2008 7:52:32 AM PST by topcat54
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To: topcat54
ACLU Judges Nativity Scene as "Non-Biblical,"

So, what do they think it is...sports related?

2 posted on 12/17/2008 7:54:15 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: topcat54
(8) the speculation that Shrek was one of the wise men.

Huh?

3 posted on 12/17/2008 7:55:00 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: topcat54

There are so many things that are added by tradition it almost isn’t funny. The entire having the baby in a barn, how un-Kosher. A literal translation is that the inn wasn’t ‘provisioned’ for a child, thus, they used the manger. It doesn’t say they where thrown out to the barn.


4 posted on 12/17/2008 7:55:50 AM PST by mnehring
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To: Puppage
Shrek was one of the wise men

Sounds pretty non-biblical to me . . .

5 posted on 12/17/2008 7:56:19 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: topcat54

hahahahaha!


6 posted on 12/17/2008 8:00:15 AM PST by novemberslady
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To: topcat54

Is it me or am I the only one thus far who got the joke????


7 posted on 12/17/2008 8:01:01 AM PST by FORTRUTHONLY (Easy as 3.14159265358979323846...)
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To: topcat54

Just another band of crooked lawyers doing whatever they can to extort money.


8 posted on 12/17/2008 8:08:56 AM PST by Neoliberalnot ((Hallmarks of Liberalism: Ingratitude and Envy))
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To: topcat54
Finally someone with some sense. Their has been so much 'artistic liberty' taken over the last 15 or 16 Centuries about the Birth of Christ that the manger scene looks nothing like what's described in the Bible. Had anyone in the past made the argument that Christmas has turned into nothing more than a commercial, secular holiday where merchants can make money I doubt the ACLU would have ever had a case.

JMO

9 posted on 12/17/2008 8:09:36 AM PST by The Anti-One (So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.)
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To: topcat54
In a written statement, Reasoning explained, “Most scenes have no Biblical support, including (1) Mary’s riding on a donkey, (2) the appearance of an innkeeper, (3) the use of a small feeding trough that is just the right size to hold a baby, (4) the idea that shepherds brought sheep out of the fields to see the baby, (5) the notion that there were only 3 men from the east, (6) the thought that the men from the east were kings wearing crowns, (7) the conclusion that the men from the east saw a baby in a manger, and (8) the speculation that Shrek was one of the wise men. Therefore, given that the scene is largely non-Biblical or religious in nature, we are dropping the lawsuit.”

And yet no one protested the Biblical support for the little drummer boy making Jesus smile, the animals talking at midnight, or the 500 watt constant glow coming from the manger.

10 posted on 12/17/2008 8:17:03 AM PST by Alex Murphy ( "Every country has the government it deserves" - Joseph Marie de Maistre)
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To: Alex Murphy
Biblical support for the little drummer boy making Jesus smile

Great. Now I'm gonna have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the afternoon.

pa rumpapum pum....

11 posted on 12/17/2008 8:22:30 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: topcat54; metmom; MrB; valkyry1; Fichori

Sooner or later the SCOTUS will have to address this madness. People with insecurities with God just need to get over themselves.

Or move to Cuba and leave normal people here alone.

Some atheists got a sign on a bus to be good for goodness sakes and there’s no God...as if they alone own the public realm.

EVERYONE has access to the public. Period.

We have lunatics banning santa from lighting Christmas trees, crosses in town logos being removed that have been in place for hundreds of years. Crosses attacked IN CEMETERIES and CHAPELS of all places!

The minority is protected via the COnstitution, but this should not mean the majority should not have access to protections from the mentally ill minority!


12 posted on 12/17/2008 8:35:59 AM PST by tpanther (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing---Edmund Burke)
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To: The_Victor; Alex Murphy
Great. Now I'm gonna have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the afternoon. pa rumpapum pum....

With visions of Angela from The Office.

13 posted on 12/17/2008 10:29:12 AM PST by topcat54 ("Friends don't let friends become dispensationalists.")
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To: Puppage

Whatever. At long last they have found a reason to stop torturing and harassing communities to remove long held traditions of the Christmas season. I hope they continue to find no merit in suing to have them removed. Add menorahs, Kwanzaa candles, crescents, and whatever atheist symbol they like. The more the merrier! Just leave the traditional Christmas decorations alone.


14 posted on 12/17/2008 11:34:04 AM PST by Jenny217
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To: Jenny217
At long last they have found a reason to stop torturing and harassing communities to remove long held traditions of the Christmas season

Agreed

15 posted on 12/17/2008 11:40:01 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: topcat54
ACLU Judges Nativity Scene as "Non-Biblical,"... (and therefore acceptable)

An overt admission.

16 posted on 12/17/2008 1:11:53 PM PST by nonsporting
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To: FORTRUTHONLY

It’s pretty good, ain’t it.


17 posted on 12/17/2008 1:14:24 PM PST by Mr. Lucky
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