Free Republic

With Thanksgiving having come and gone, we are now solidly into the Christmas season. Two stories that reveal Hollywood's attitude about Christmas in painful detail recently caught my attention. The first was an article in the L.A. Times about the 50th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas." It is now a classic; one of the most beloved of all broadcast television Christmas specials. Yet those in charge of its production at the time thought it was going to be a dismal failure. Why? Because cartoonist and author Charles M. Schulz refused to include a laugh track, and -- most significantly...

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to...

Mr. Grinch, Mr. Scrooge, meet Mr. Obama. No, it’s not a joke. President Obama really is imposing a special new tax on Christmas trees. And while the policy seems a ludicrous political misstep – and possibly an unconstitutional one at that – in truth, the Obama Christmas Tree Tax is much worse than that. The $2 million the Obama Administration expects the tax to raise will not reduce the deficit or cover needed government services. Instead, it will serve as a marketing slush fund for the Christmas tree industry.' The money will set up a brand new government agency called...

Dear reader, what child is this? The LDS Christmas Story was gathered and compiled from the teachings of Mormon Church leaders. 1- It speaks of a Father and Son who are not found in the Biblical narrative of Christ's birth. 2- It brings the sad news that our salvation depends upon our own righteousness instead of the perfect righteousness of Jesus. 3-The gift God gave that night, according to the LDS Christmas story, provided resurrection to judgement for all the world and an example to follow in order to make oneself worthy of the highest heaven. Yet God tells a...

In Part I of this series, we examined the need to view the entire Christmas story arc, and in Part II we discussed the probability of Jesus’ birthday on Sukkot (mid-September to early-October), as opposed to the semi-synchretistically chosen date of December 25. In this installment, we will examine Jesus’ parents, comparing common belief/depiction of them to a contextual probability of who they were. Marriage Customs In Middle-eastern Jewish culture in the first century, like today, girls are considered to have reached an “age of accountability” at the age of twelve, or their first menstruation, whichever comes first. Upon reaching...

Opinion The mayor of Boston recasts its Christmas tree as a “Holiday tree.” The mayor of Montgomery, Alabama insists on calling the annual Christmas parade a “Holiday parade.” Rev. Jerry Falwell urges Christians to boycott Target stores because of the chain’s failure to use the word, “Christmas,” in its advertising and its prohibition of Salvation Army bellringers at its front doors. Faithful Christians, seeing yet another sign of the demise of faith and piety in our society, look for someone to blame, and call for a round-up of the usual suspects: the ACLU, People for the American Way, and liberal...

Since the Palestinian Authority’s takeover of Bethlehem in 1995, under the Oslo Accords with Israel, Bethlehem has been transformed from a Christian city into a Muslim city. Bethlehem’s remaining Christians now live in a condition of dhimmitude (a reference to the second-class citizenship Islam imposes on Christians) in the city of Jesus’ birth.

I try to limit my vanity posts, but I thought this might be a good forum to write thoughts about our loved ones who have passed.