Religious freedom events to ‘proclaim liberty’

In too many instances, public school teachers tell Christian students they cannot include their faith in their homework assignments or classroom discussions. However, the U.S. Department of Education has issued guidelines explaining students’ religious liberties. Students can pray, read their Bibles, and talk about their faith at school during school hours. They can organize prayer groups and Bible studies and announce their meetings. They can express their faith in their class work and homework. — Gateways to Better Education

LA CHURCH & STATE EXAMINER

In an effort to increase awareness for Religious Freedom Day (Jan. 16), two advocacy groups have launched Religious Freedom Sunday planned for next week.

Gateways to Better Education and the Alliance Defense Fund are calling for Religious Freedom Sunday to be a national event in which churches honor the educators within their congregations and inform their members about the freedom of religious expression for students from kindergarten through 12th grade have at school… read more

Empty Manger, No Candles

SCROOGE ALERT LEVEL: ELEVATED

LUZERNE COUNTY, Pennsylvania — A menorah and statues in the nativity scene on the Luzerne County Courthouse lawn were removed Wednesday night after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) threatened legal action. County officials opted not to spend time and money on a lawsuit – at least not at this time – because they are swamped with the budget crisis and other pressing matters, the Times Leader reports. The empty manger remains. FULL STORY (Photo: Pete G. Wilcox/TimesLeader.com)

Man shares Christmas message at city celebration despite ban on Bible reading

“It’s very simple, I mean it’s Christmas, it’s about the birth of Christ, it’s not about Christmas trees, it’s not about Santa Claus, it’s not about elves and reindeer.” — Samuel Duck

SCROOGE ALERT LEVEL: HIGH

It has been a part of Maryville’s holiday traditions for nearly a quarter of a century, but Monday night the Bible was removed from their Christmas celebration. But, one local man took it upon himself to tell the story of the birth of Jesus.

WVLT: Maryville man shares a Bible story, after it was removed from an event

MARYVILLE, Tenn. — It has been a part of Maryville’s holiday traditions for nearly a quarter of a century, but Monday night the Bible was removed from their Christmas celebration.

One complaint changed the local ceremony, with the long-time argument of separating Church and State.
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And, it hit home when the City of Maryville received a call, complaining about their annual Yuletide Celebration, which used to include reading from the Bible.

Walker Johnson has been the Master of Ceremonies of the Maryville Yuletide Celebration for more than 20 years, but things changed this year.

He says, “It’s my first time in 22 years not to read the Christmas story.” Describing the previous years, he says, “Everybody is partying and having a good time, and when you start to read it, they get quiet, and any time you’ve got 6,7,800 people get quiet, you know you’re doing something right.”

Annually before the large tree in downtown Maryville was lit up, Walker shared the Bible story with the crowd.

But, Mayor Tom Taylor says, “Last Thursday we received a call from a lady asking if we were going to read the Nativity story from the Gospel of Luke,” adding, “and she just simply asked if that were legal.” …

FULL STORY

This from KNOXNews.com: Man defies city of Maryville, reads Scripture at tree lighting

Photo: Samuel David Duck reads the Bible during Maryville’s Christmas tree-lighting celebration Monday night at the Greenbelt. The reading has been a tradition for decades, but this year was eliminated after a complaint to the city. KNOXNews.com/Robert Wilson

MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Acknowledging it is “terrifying to stand and go against the courts,” Samuel David Duck, a Maryville resident and father of two, did what city officials had decided not to do.

He read an account of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Bible at the city’s tree-lighting celebration Monday night at the Greenbelt.

About 20 people gathered to hear the reading from the book of Matthew and applauded when Duck finished…

FULL STORY

Principal: ‘So what we do is celebrate winter’

SCROOGE ALERT LEVEL: HIGH

FOX NEWS:

“Happy Winter” just doesn’t have the same ring as Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah, but in one Connecticut elementary school, that’s about all you’ll see and hear this holiday season.

Erik Brown, principal of Walsh Elementary School in Waterbury, Conn., has reportedly banned all religious festivities and many decorations from the classroom since arriving at the school five years ago. Brown, who declined comment through a spokeswoman to FoxNews.com on Friday, explained to The Republican-American newspaper that state law mandates that a public school cannot knowingly exclude children.

“This is not a church,” Brown told the paper. “It’s a school and it’s a public school. I have to do things that include every child. So what we do is celebrate winter.”

In a statement, Waterbury Public Schools Superintendent David Snead defended Brown, calling the issue of religious celebrations “especially difficult” in December and reminding all staff at the district’s schools that holidays festivities can proceed but without religious overtones…

FULL STORY

City bans 1-hour live Nativity scene planned for Christmas Eve

Connecticut town’s officials have axed a church’s plans for a staged event on adjacent public property

SCROOGE ALERT LEVEL: HIGH

It’s become apparent that most reporters in the U.S. assume that religious expression on public property is automatically violating Constitutional law regarding separation between church and state. Without hesitation, journalists misreport conflicts without understanding that the law is about freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

America’s founding fathers were concerned about the religious tyranny they encountered in Europe resurfacing in their new country. They did not want the establishment of religion by government. However they did not want to squelch the expression of faith.

Notice the inference in the second paragraph of the story below.

WBZ: Nativity Scene Rejected At Manchester Church

MANCHESTER, Conn. — It was Caroline Cheshire’s Christmas wish for her parish, a live nativity scene that would bring the Christmas story to life after services on Christmas Eve.

But she had no idea she was trampling on the separation between church and state with her idea.

She hoped locals in the town playing Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus, even a donkey she had already lined up, would make it a special evening for children at First Parish Church in Manchester.

“We didn’t mean to offend anyone. Families who come out of the church are the ones that choose to celebrate Christmas Eve in church,” Cheshire tells WBZ-TV.

Her idea was rejected by the board of selectmen in a matter of minutes, because the church sits on the town common…

FULL STORY