Today we continue our Words From Our Founders series examining our Founding Fathers’ own words on religion, religious liberty, and morality.
Below is an excerpt from Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin relating to the celebration of Christmas.
“How many observe Christ’s Birth-day! How few, his Precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.”
Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1743
Arkansas lawmakers heard a sales pitch yesterday for “monitor games” from lottery contractor Intralot.
Intralot is an international corporation based out of Greece; they supply the Arkansas Lottery with many of its games. “Monitor games” are lottery games much like the electronic gambling you would expect to see in a casino. They typically include bingo, keno, poker, and similar games.
According to Arkansas News Bureau, the presentation for monitor games was made to the lottery’s Legislative Oversight Committee, composed of lawmakers from both houses, on Tuesday. Intralot officials claim Arkansas would be a likely candidate for “bingo” style electronic games, and that the Arkansas Lottery could see an extra $18 million a year.
Here’s the problem: These machines are just one more step in a very long, predictable pattern from the Arkansas Lottery. Every time lottery ticket sales start to sag, the Lottery rolls out some new game or gimmick to keep people buying lottery tickets. We’ve seen it since 2009.
A Montana school recently received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the ACLU threatening possible legal action if the school’s choir members were permitted to voluntarily participate in a community Christmas celebration at a local church.
The school has rightly decided to ignore the threat and let students join in the festivities.
From Alliance Defending Freedom:
“Schools should not have to think twice about whether they can allow choirs to participate in community Christmas events,” said Litigation Staff Counsel Rory Gray. “Courts have unanimously allowed students to sing Christmas carols at school. Nothing changes when they sing the same Christmas songs at a community festival instead. We commend the districts for rightly ignoring the baseless threats delivered by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”
This latest action by the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation is yet another in a long series of anti-Christmas (and anti-religion) activities by the groups, including:
In addition to past actions by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Arkansas has also seen its Christmas celebrations targeted by other atheist groups, including unwarranted controversy over a Nativity display at a school in Paragould and an anti-Christmas display sponsored by the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers on the Arkansas Capitol grounds.