Free Republic

Vernon (WTNH) _ A sign posted by Atheists in the Rockville's Central Park has people talking, prompting calls to the town hall and the local clergy. The Connecticut Valley Atheists posted the three-sided sign, which some call a billboard, and it was the only sign in the town center marking the Holiday season. Two sides of the display feature the Twin Towers, framed by the words "Imagine No Religion." This Christmas, Martha Chennelle and Amy Houser say Vernon could use a few prayers, considering the sign standing in front of town hall. "We believe that Christ is the reason for...

GREENSBORO — There's not much to enjoy about the back of a police car. But a Greensboro man was particularly offended when he saw a religious slogan posted in the back of a patrol car. While a deputy was searching M. Reza Salami's car at a sobriety checkpoint last Saturday, the deputy asked Salami to wait in the back of his patrol car, Salami said. There, Salami, a professor at N.C. A&T, saw a sign reading "Jesus is your savior" between the front and back seats. Salami complained to the Guilford County Sheriff's Office about the sign and sent a...

SPRINGFIELD -- A Missouri State University department head took down a 20-foot Christmas tree (not the one in the photo) after a diversity official reported a complaint that it was insensitive to other religions. As a result, MSU officials are meeting Friday to discuss appropriate holiday decorations

(This is the second in a three-part series on the border fence.) BISBEE — Bill Odle and his wife, Ellen Logue, moved to their home on Border Road near Palominas seven years ago. They liked the remoteness of the site, the abundance of wildlife, the quiet atmosphere and the beautiful terrain. They decided to place a conservation easement on their 50 acres of land, which is located next to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. Now they are concerned a federal fence being constructed nearby along the border with Mexico will disrupt the view and prevent wildlife from migrating...

An American Legion commander in California says he and other veterans will defy a newly imposed ban on flag-folding recitations that include references to God. During thousands of military burials, Veterans Administration employees and volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors. The fourth fold, for example, refers to God's "divine guidance." The 11th fold glorifies "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And the 12th fold glorifies "God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost." Now the National Cemetery Association has made a decision to ban flag-folding recitations by VA...

Through thousands of military burials, Memorial Honor Detail volunteers at Riverside National Cemetery have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors of those being laid to rest. The first fold, a narrator tells relatives, represents life, the second a belief in eternal life. The 11th fold celebrates Jewish war veterans and "glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." A single complaint lodged against the words for the 11th fold recently prompted the National Cemetery Administration to ban the entire recital at all 125 national cemeteries....

A Texas family is suing Gov. Rick Perry and a school district over a state-mandated moment of silence in schools, according to The Dallas Morning News. David Wallace Croft and his wife, Shannon, of Carrollton, Texas, have three children at Rosemeade Elementary and argue that the moment of silence is unconstitutional and amounts to state-sanctioned school prayer.

RANFIELD, England, July 29 (UPI) -- Church bells in Cranfield, England, chimed every quarter hour for hundreds of years -- but the tradition was broken after some newcomers complained. New residents said chimes kept them awake at night, Britain's Mail on Sunday reported. The city council has issued a noise abatement regulation, to take effect next month, preventing the bells from ringing at night.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An office worker for the US city of Detroit is suing for her colleagues to be banned from wearing perfume which gives her such severe headaches, nausea and coughing fits that she must leave work. Court documents showed Thursday that Susan McBride suffered so acutely from allergy to the chemicals in scents, lotions and sprays that she had to go home sick when a heavily perfumed co-worker shared her office at the city's historic districts department. Her sensitivity is such that she avoids the detergent sections in shops and cannot sit near perfumed people in a movie...