Christian Attorneys Defend Seniors Who Want to Celebrate Christmas

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This week Tony Perkins of Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., wrote about senior citizens who were told they could not celebrate Christmas at their living center in Washington State.

Providence Place senior center reportedly told residents they could not put up Christmas decorations, sing carols, or exchange Christmas greetings, because the center accepts federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

One resident contacted attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom about the situation. The attorneys promptly sent a letter to Providence Place explaining that federal policies cannot be used to squelch residents’ free speech and free exercise of religion.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time someone has tried to claim the Bill of Rights prevents everyday citizens from celebrating Christmas.

Public schools routinely try to stop students and teachers from wishing one another a merry Christmas. In 2013 a VA hospital in Georgia prohibited high school Christmas carolers from singing religious songs to veterans.

The First Amendment was intended to protect the free exercise of religion. It was never meant to stop anyone from following their faith or from saying, “Merry Christmas!”

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Something Remarkable Happened 104 Years Ago

Christmas

On December 24, 1914, something remarkable happened: Allied and German soldiers celebrated Christmas together.

In America today World War I is overshadowed in the history textbooks by World War II. But 104 years ago Europe was locked in arguably the deadliest and most destructive conflict in human history. From the trenches encircled with barbed wire to the gas clouds and artillery pieces, World War I was unlike anything people had ever known.

On Christmas Eve 1914 both sides were quietly celebrating in their respective trenches. Gradually German and British soldiers began singing carols and shouting Christmas greetings from their lines. Then a few crossed No-Man’s Land with small gifts.

Up and down the Western Front, soldiers gradually came out of their bunkers to meet one another for one of the oddest Christmas celebrations that probably ever has been.

The event has gone down in history as “The Christmas Truce of 1914.” Unarmed soldiers at war with one another sang songs, exchanged food, and played soccer.

Today there are some who say the peace and goodwill of the Christmas Truce of 1914 gives them hope for the future of mankind. But I think if we want to find true hope, peace, and goodwill we have to look further back, to a manger in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago.

As we look forward to Christmas, I hope you and your loved ones know the true peace of Christ this season.

P.S. If you are thinking about supporting Family Council and the Education Alliance before the end of the year, please know that you can give securely online via our website at FamilyCouncil.org. Thank you for your support.

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Satanic Temple Intervening in Lawsuit Against AR Ten Commandments Monument

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Yesterday U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker allowed the Satanic Temple to intervene in a lawsuit over the state’s monument of the Ten Commandments on the Arkansas Capitol lawn.

In 2015 the Arkansas Legislature authorized the privately funded Ten Commandments monument that is identical to a monument the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional in Texas a few years ago.

However, last June the American Humanist Association and the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit against the state to have the monument removed. Now the Satanic Temple will be part of that lawsuit as well.

Both the Satanic Temple and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have made headlines recently over their efforts to oppose Christmas celebrations and displays.

In Ohio the Freedom From Religion Foundation successfully bullied a town into removing a Ten Commandments monument and a Nativity scene from public property.

In the Illinois capitol rotunda the Satanic Temple installed a temporary “Snaketivity” display that features a human hand holding an apple with a snake coiled around it. Beneath the statue read the words, “Knowledge Is The Greatest Gift.”

As we have said before, city, county, and state officials are free to celebrate Christmas. Courts also have ruled that the government can recognize the significant impact of the Ten Commandments down through the years.

We need to understand and appreciate the significance of the Ten Commandments — including their impact on our system government and their relevance to us still today. Unfortunately some groups seem determined to erase anything that acknowledges that significance from the public sphere.

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