Free Republic

You've got to hand it to Barack Obama. He used his presidential campaign speech to a church to call for separation of church and state and then divided himself from the "religious right" by labeling the movement "divisive." Not every rhetorician could get away with that kind of sleight of mouth. First off, the very presence of Obama speaking before the United Church of Christ's 50th anniversary national General Synod is somewhat remarkable. He's running for president. And this is the congregation of Barry Lynn, the founder of American United for Separation of Church and State, who runs a personal...

This past week an ABC News debate aired on "Nightline," which pitted popular theists against Internet atheists. While I'll have more to say about that battle of wits in my next article, it testifies to the growing number (30 million Americans) of those who profess there is no God. Add to that what I believe is possibly three times the number of functional atheists, those who believe in a God but practically don't show it, and America is facing a new religious horizon in which atheism is becoming a formidable foe. Though the majority of Americans continue to claim to...

I passed through Shannon Airport in Ireland the other day. They've got a "holiday" display in the terminal, but guess what? It says "Merry Christmas." The Emerald Isle has a few Jews, and these days rather a lot of Muslims, and presumably even a militant atheist or two, but they don't seem inclined to sue the bejasus out of every event in the Yuletide season. By contrast, the Associated Press reports the following from Riverside, Calif.: "A high school choir was asked to stop singing Christmas carols during an ice skating show featuring Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen out of concern...

The combat called ChristmasLast 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...

You may find the title confusing. After all, religious Jews don’t celebrate Christmas. So why should a Jew care if a store clerk says “Merry Christmas?” Why should the public disappearance of Christmas matter to the Jewish people? Patience. All will be explained in due course. In the meantime, ‘tis the season to be politically correct – a coast-to-coast harkening-free zone and the tyranny of hyper-sensitivity. The increasingly successful effort to purge Christmas from our culture (correctly called the War on Christmas) proceeds apace – municipal Christmas trees are re-christened (no pun intended) “holiday trees,” schools ban Christmas decorations and...

After decades of excoriating evangelical Christians as bigoted morons, foaming-at-the-mouth fanatics and vile hypocrites -- both sexually-obsessed and sexually-repressed (part Elmer Gantry, part Elmer Fudd) -- the media has hit on a new tactic. The cover story ("America's God Complex - Like George W. Bush, The Religious Right Is At The Crossroads") in the November 13th Newsweek explains that evangelicals aren't really all that bad - it's just that the poor fools have been duped by the Republican Party, their energies (which should be devoted to more worthwhile endeavors) diverted to sordid politics. But there's hope that the Bible Belt...

A fresh wave of atheistic books has hit the market this autumn, some climbing onto best-seller lists in what proponents see as a backlash against the way religion is entwined in politics. "Religion is fragmenting the human community," said Sam Harris, author of "Letter to a Christian Nation," No. 11 on the New York Times nonfiction list on October 15. There is a "huge visibility and political empowerment of religion. President George W. Bush uses his first veto to deny funding for stem cell research and scientists everywhere are horrified," he said in an interview. Religious polarization is part of...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A fresh wave of atheistic books has hit the market this autumn, some climbing onto best-seller lists in what proponents see as a backlash against the way religion is entwined in politics. "Religion is fragmenting the human community," said Sam Harris, author of "Letter to a Christian Nation," No. 11 on the New York Times nonfiction list on October 15. There is a "huge visibility and political empowerment of religion. President George W. Bush uses his first veto to deny funding for stem cell research and scientists everywhere are horrified," he said in an interview. Religious polarization...

While Muslims were busy threatening to kill the Pope, Rosie O’Donnell – talk-show host, constitutional scholar and celebrity airhead – was busy comparing conservative Christians to Islamo-fascists. On ABC’s “The View” last week, O’Donuts smeared committed Christians while trivializing the suffering of Islam’s many victims. Responding to the comments of her co-host that militant Islam is a threat to free people everywhere, O’Donnell – famous for her keen intellect – shot back: “Just a minute. Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state.” Actually , we...

Two major newspapers are blasting conservatives for holding up passage of a defense appropriations bill by attaching a "mischievous," "pro-evangelical" amendment to it, as the New York Times described it. According to an editorial in Thursday's New York Times, "hard-right Republicans have held up passage of the defense bill in an attempt to license zealot chaplains to violate policies of religious tolerance at secular ceremonies." The amendment -- contained in the House bill but not in the Senate bill -- says military chaplains may "pray according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience" (i.e., pray in the name of...

by Mark Finkelstein September 16, 2006 - 06:46 In a surreal clash of the sacred and the profane, the New York Times - that citadel of secularism - has declared in its editorial of this morning that Pope Benedict "needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology," for having quoted a 14th century Christian emperor who said: “Show me just what Muhammad 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.” The Times is only being fair and balanced, I suppose. After...

As I sat in the hearing room, I felt a cold chill – like the chilling effect this court-martial will have on our free speech. For this analogy to be accurate, however, I would need to be sitting in a freezer. At issue in the court-martial of Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt, chaplain for the United States Navy, is a name and the freedom to speak it. That name is Jesus. And, according to this week's ruling, the freedom to speak it depends on the context. Before I could go through the metal detectors to get to the courtroom, a Navy...

There is no war on Christmas - so says the secular left as it fires off another salvo. Of course, these are the same shameless ideologues who tell us with a perfectly straight face: * There is no war on marriage - as they go about busily trying to deconstruct an institution that serves as the bedrock of society and create an obscene parody called gay marriage, which would open the door to government sanction of polygamy and pedophilia. * There's no war on parental rights - all the while they're sexualizing your children (through the public schools), distributing condoms...

A lawsuit against memorial crosses is set to be filed Thursday by a group that feels they violate the separation of church and state. Three Utah atheists, backed by a national organization based in Texas, are filing suit against the state for allowing crosses to be erected in honor of highway patrol troopers, who have died in the line of duty. Richard Andrews said, "I feel the same way a Jew might feel if you put a state symbol on a swastika" According to the UHP Association, a support group for troopers and their families, many fallen troopers' relatives consider...

REDLANDS -- They say one man can make a difference, but in this city it took two or perhaps none. A year and a half ago, the American Civil Liberties Union told Redlands officials that two residents had complained that the city's 42-year-old logo promoted Christianity because it bore the image of a cross. The rights group threatened to sue. The City Council voted in closed session to remove the cross from the logo. On Tuesday, Redlands voters are to decide whether the cross should be returned and tax dollars should be used in a legal battle that could cost...

Proving it does not discriminate against the size of the municipality it will take to court, the American Civil Liberties Union is locked in a legal battle with a small New Mexico town over a tiny cross on its seal – this after last year forcing the County of Los Angeles to remove a cross from its seal. After being threatened with a lawsuit should it continue to use the seal, the city of Tijeras, N.M., – with a population of less than 500 – decided to place itself in a David and Goliath conflict with the ACLU to defend...

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) -- The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Haskell County, demanding that a Ten Commandments monument be removed from the courthouse grounds in Stigler.

NEW ORLEANS -- The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal judge to jail public school teachers and administrators for allegedly violating a court-imposed ban on school prayers. It's the fourth time the ACLU has told Judge Ginger Berrigan that officials in Louisiana's Tangipahoa Parish are flouting her prayer ban. This time, the ACLU said an elementary school teacher repeatedly held prayers in her fourth-grade class, encouraged students to bring their Bibles to school, held Bible studies in the school cafeteria and admonished students who didn't show up. In addition, the ACLU cited a prayer "in Jesus' name" that...