War on Christmas – Page 7

What do Americans Think of Christmas? Rasmussen Has the Numbers

Dec 16, 2013JerryChristmasChristmas, War on Christmas

Rasmussen Reports has published some interesting poll results on Christmas in the past couple of weeks.

According to Rasmussen,

This tracks with a poll from 2012 that found 60% of Americans celebrate Christmas primarily as a religious holiday.

While these numbers are interesting by themselves, on the whole they show Americans overwhelmingly celebrate Christmas and that Christmas is viewed as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also legitimately recognized as a federal holiday. With that in mind, why are there so many efforts underway right now to try to make Christmas about something other than Christ or prevent Christmas from being celebrated publicly? Why should a public official or public Christmas display be expected to recognize any element of the Christmas celebration except the very event Christmas celebrates?

City Refuses to Remove Nativity Scene Despite Threats from Atheists

The Freedom From Religion Foundation–which we recently wrote about–is, once again, threatening legal action over a Nativity scene on city property. This time, it’s in the small town of Chipley, Florida.

Chipley, a town of roughly 3,700 residents, has a Nativity display on the lawn of its city hall. Freedom From Religion Foundation has told the city the display is unconstitutional (an assessment that is most likely incorrect) and threatened legal action. The city, however, has refused to take the Nativity scene down.

Christmas is a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It has never been anything else in this country. Our government has chosen to recognize Christmas as a federal holiday. Why, then, would it be unconstitutional for a government entity to put up a decoration depicting the very event Christmas celebrates?

To read more about this story, click here.

Montana Christmas Festival Goes on Despite Atheists’ Threats

Dec 11, 2013JerryChristmas, Religious FreedomAlliance Defending Freedom, Christmas, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, War on Christmas

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.