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Anti-Christian Persecution / Perseguição Anti-Cristã (11)
por noticias •
Sunday, Jan. 08, 2006 at 7:25 PM
MOSTRUÁRIO DE NOTÍCIAS JAMAIS PUBLICADAS NA ARGENTINA AMÉRICA LATINA, BRASIL, PORTUGAL E ESPANHA - em inglês (English)
PERSEGUIÇÃO ANTI-CRISTÃ NOS EUA E NO MUNDO
Arquivo completo compactado [dossie.zip]: http://www.olavodecarvalho.org/textos/dossie.zip - em http://www.olavodecarvalho.org
Arquivo completo (RTF) 1.7 M: http://argentina.indymedia.org/uploads/2006/01/dossie-perseguicao-anti-crista.rtf
Continuação:
Law of the land
Punishment includes Islam indoctrination
Canadian to resume hate-crimes sentence under Muslim direction
Posted: October 31, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Art Moore
©2002WorldNetDaily.com
An Ontario man convicted of promoting hatred against Muslims says his community-service sentence has included indoctrination into Islam.
After losing an appeal to Canada's Supreme Court on Oct. 17, Mark Harding must resume his sentence of two years probation and 340 hours of community service under the direction of Mohammad Ashraf, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America in Mississauga, Ont.
Harding, 47, said he had one session under Ashraf in 1998 before an appeal process stayed the sentence.
Ashraf, according to Harding, said that instead of licking stamps and stuffing envelopes, "it would be better if you learned about Islam."
The cleric made it clear, Harding recalled in an interview with WorldNetDaily, that during the sessions nothing negative could be said about Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.
"He said he was my supervisor, and if I didn't follow what he said, he would send me back to jail," recounted Harding, who had been prevented from speaking publicly about his case under a gag order.
Harding was convicted in 1998 on federal hate-crimes charges stemming from a June 1997 incident in which he distributed pamphlets outside a public high school, Weston Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Harding who said that until that point he spent most of his time evangelizing Muslims was protesting the school's policy of setting aside a room for Muslim students to pray during school hours.
In one of his pamphlets, Harding listed atrocities committed by Muslims in foreign lands to back his assertion that Canadians should be wary of local Muslims.
The pamphlet said: "The Muslims who commit these crimes are no different than the Muslim believers living here in Toronto. Their beliefs are based on the Quran. They sound peaceful, but underneath their false sheep's clothing are raging wolves seeking whom they may devour. And Toronto is definitely on their hit list."
"The point I was trying to make is you shouldn't have a violent religion like Islam allowed in a school when Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism is not allowed," he told WND.
Harding, an evangelical Protestant, insists he has love rather than hatred toward Muslims and wants to see them go to heaven.
A lawyer for Harding, Jasmine Akbaralli, says she is trying to obtain permission for her client to serve out his sentence in an Islamic community closer to his current home in Chesley, Ont., north of Toronto and about a three-hour drive from the Islamic Society of North America.
The plea is based on humanitarian grounds, she said, due to her client's poor health.
Harding said he has suffered four heart attacks since 1997, and he and his wife and two children are penniless because his health has prevented him from maintaining his trade as a cabinetmaker.
Akbaralli said she would not comment on Harding's previous experience with Ashraf, noting that she was not representing him at the time. Calls to Ashraf and others at the Islamic Society of North America on Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned.
Understanding Islam
During his 1998 session with Ashraf, Harding was told to read a book called Towards Understanding Islam, by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi.
On page 12 of the book, Harding noted, it gives a description of a "kafir," or infidel, a person who does not follow Islam.
"Such a man ... will spread confusion and disorder on the earth," the book says. "He will without the least compunction, shed blood, violate other men's rights, be cruel to them, and create disorder and destruction in the world. His perverted thoughts and ambitions, his blurred vision and disturbed scale of values, and his evil-spelling activities would make life bitter for him and for all around him."
"It was obvious that he intended to make sure I understood that I was a kafir," Harding said of Ashraf.
Harding's 1998 conviction on three counts of willfully promoting hatred was commended by Canadian Muslims.
"The verdict sends a message to Christians, Muslims and Jews that personal views of that nature can't be allowed in a public forum," said Shahina Siddiqui, coordinator of community relations and social services for the Manitoba Islamic Association, in a report by the Canadian evangelical publication Christian Week. "There's a fine line between freedom of expression and hatred. Harding crossed that line."
Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said after the verdict that "spreading hate is against Canadian values and against Canadian law, and it doesn't matter the group that is victimized."
The verdict was not a suppression of free speech, Elmasry insisted, according to Alberta Report magazine, arguing that he would not consider scholarly books in the library that criticize Islam to be hate literature. Harding "is just trying to stereotype and put out hate literature, and he was found guilty by the courts," he said.
Harding asserted at the time that he meant to criticize only Islamic terrorists, not all Muslims. But he added that faithful Muslims will always engage in jihad, or holy war, against non-Muslims because it is required by Islamic teachings.
Many Muslim scholars in North America argue that jihad essentially means "struggle" and is not necessarily violent.
But Harding said that after his case became public, he no longer felt safe, due to threats from Muslims. When he entered court for the first time for his trial, he required police protection as a large crowd of Muslims gathered, with some chanting, "Infidels, you will burn in hell."
Harding said he received many death threats among more than 3,000 hate-filled calls that came to his answering service in 1997. Similar calls were received by police and the Ontario attorney general, he said.
"I had a call from someone who said they were from (Louis) Farrakhan's (Nation of Islam) group, and they were going to break my legs," he said. "Another caller said he would rip out my testicles."
The Islamic Society of North America in Canada, where Harding is required to fulfill his community service, describes itself as a "broad-based unity of Muslims and Islamic organizations committed to the mission and movement of Islam: nurturing a way of life in the light of the guidance from the Quran and Sunnah for establishing a vibrant presence of Muslims in Canada."
The organization shares facilities with the Canadian Council on Islamic Relations, an affiliate of the controversial Council on Islamic-American Relations, or CAIR, in Washington, D.C.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper indicated in a 1993 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wants to see the United States become a Muslim country.
"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future," Hooper told the Star Tribune. "But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."
Hate crimes
Judge Sidney B. Linden's 1998 ruling against Harding was based on Canada's genocide and hate-crimes law. The judge determined he was guilty of "false allegations about the adherents of Islam calculated to arouse fear and hatred of them in all non-Muslim people."
The law bars a public statement that "willfully promotes hatred" against groups "distinguished by color, race, religion or ethnic origin." The code has an article that excuses statements expressed in "good faith," including religious expression. But the trial judge found that Harding had either "tried to incite hatred or was willfully blind to it," according to lawyer Akbaralli.
Canadian Christian groups are fighting a bill reinstated this month by a homosexual parliament member that would add "sexual orientation" as a protected category in the hate-crimes statutes. Known previously as bill C-415, it is now registered as C-250.
Evangelicals have supported Harding in principle, though many have signaled their opposition to his aggressive tactics or have expressed reservations.
Harding said he's received support from Christians who immigrated to Canada from Muslim countries, where minority religions experience discrimination and persecution.
"I have a lot of Pakistani and Egyptian friends helping me through this because they understand what Islam is all about," he said. "When they heard about me in the news, they called to offer their support."
Related story:
The Bible as 'hate literature'?
The Bible as 'hate literature'?
Canadians advance bill that chills speech about homosexuality
Posted: October 21, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Art Moore
©2002WorldNetDaily.com
A prison sentence for quoting the Bible in Canada? Holy Scriptures treated as "hate literature"?
That could happen if a proposed bill is passed by Parliament, according to opponents who believe it would criminalize public expression against homosexual behavior.
A self-described homosexual member of the House of Commons, Svend Robinson, is expected this week to reintroduce bill C-415, which would add sexual orientation as a protected category in Canada's genocide and hate crimes legislation.
Christian groups lined up against the bill admit they can easily be misunderstood for opposing a measure apparently designed to protect people.
"We don't want to promote hatred against anyone and are opposed to violence for whatever reason," said Bruce Clemenger, head of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's Centre for Faith and Public Life. "Our concern, though is that ... courts have not distinguished between the identity of the person and the activity. So sexual orientation refers to both the sexual disposition as well as the activity."
But homosexual activists contend such a distinction cannot be made with homosexuals any more than it can with matters of race or ethnic origin.
"The argument of separating the person from the behavior is their concept," insisted Kim Vance, president of Ottawa-based EGALE, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere.
"In reality they are the same thing," Vance said in a WND interview. "That's language that they use to justify [opposition], but it's language that we don't agree with."
The bill's backers argue that statements against homosexual behavior for religious reasons are exempted in the current law.
In a letter Robinson sends to inquirers, he quotes Alberta Attorney General Dave Hancock, who insists protecting gays from hateful propaganda has nothing to do with endorsing homosexuality.
"There are appropriate ways to discuss issues in our country ... and you don't need to put forward hateful literature," Hancock said. "It doesn't matter what you believe about sexual orientation."
But opponents point out that the law addressed by Robinson's amendment spells out three different types of actions or speech considered criminal, and only one can be excused by a religious defense. And even that one, opponents maintain, has not always held up in court, because its vagueness leaves wide discretion to judges.
The most dangerous aspect of this amendment is that "hate" and "hate propaganda" are not defined, says Brian Rushfeldt, executive director of the Canada Family Action Coalition in Calgary, Alberta.
"I would have no way of knowing I'm conducting a criminal act until I'm charged with it, because there is no clarity in the law," Rushfeldt told WND.
"Sexual oriention" also is not defined in the law. Prime Minister Jean Chretien, when he was justice minister, told a constitutional parliamentary committee in 1981 that "sexual orientation" should not be in the Canadian constitution because it is too "difficult to interpret, to define."
Religious defense?
No religious defense is contained in section 318 of the current law, which has a sentence of up to five years in prison for advocating "genocide," nor in section 319(1), prohibiting public incitement of "hatred" against an identifiable group that is "likely to lead to a breach of the peace."
Section 319(2), which prohibits a public statement that "willfully promotes hatred" against a protected group, does have an article that excuses statements expressed in "good faith," including religious expression.
Clemenger, however, points to a 4-3 Supreme Court decision in which the minority opinion, written by current Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, expressed deep reservations about whether these defenses are of any use.
"What they are saying is, that if you willfully promote hatred, you can use this defense, but no one in good faith would promote hatred," Clemenger said. "So that 'good faith' clause almost eliminates the defense."
Rushfeldt and his allies note that provincial human rights commissions, which already include sexual orientation as a protected category, have penalized people for actions motivated by their conscientious objection to homosexual behavior.
A Saskatchewan man recently was fined $5,000 for buying a newspaper ad that quoted verses from the Bible condemning homosexual behavior.
Two years ago, the Ontario Human Rights Commission penalized printer Scott Brockie $5,000 for refusing to print letterhead for a homosexual advocacy group. Brockie argued that his Christian beliefs compelled him to reject the group's request.
Robinson's amendment would make both of these men criminals, opponents contend.
Rushfeldt also recalled instances in which the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council rules have been used to censure programs addressing homosexuality. In 1997, the council ruled that the airing of a James Dobson "Focus on the Family" program, called "Homosexuality: Fact and Fiction," violated the requirement that opinion, comment, and editorializing be presented in a way that is "full, fair, and proper."
The rules are "so vague," said Rushfeldt, "that if somebody says something that hurts feelings it can be considered a violation of the broadcast standards."
In a current case, a British Columbia teacher could lose his job for making "derogatory and demeaning" statements against homosexuals, according to the judgment of a teachers association panel. Though none of the statements in question were made in class, the panel cited letters to a newspaper that indicated veteran teacher Chris Kempling's attitude could poison the class environment.
One Kempling letter cited by the panel said: "Gay people are seriously at risk, not because of heterosexual attitudes but because of their sexual behaviour, and I challenge the gay community to show some real evidence that they are trying to protect their own community members by making attempts to promote monogamous, long-lasting relationships to combat sexual addictions."
The Vancouver Sun reported Sept. 25 that the panel does not need to find direct evidence of a poisoned school environment to determine that a member is guilty of conduct unbecoming. The panel said, "It is sufficient that an inference can be drawn as to the reasonable and probable consequences of the discriminatory comments of a teacher."
In June, Sweden passed a constitutional amendment that adds sexual orientation to groups protected against "unfavorable speech." The amendment must be voted on again this fall, and if passed, would be enacted in January. In effect, it outlaws any teaching that homosexuality is wrong, carrying a sentence of up to four years in prison.
U.S. opponents of this kind of legislation fear that the United States is heading in the direction of Canada and Sweden as battles continued to be waged over the addition of sexual orientation as a protected category in hate crimes laws and employment discrimination.
"I think the U.S. is not far behind Canada," said John Paulk, gender and homosexuality specialist for Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs.
Canadian pro-family activists also are concerned about challenges to the definition of marriage, especially after an Ontario court ruled earlier this year that restricting marriage to a man and a woman is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
'Hate literature'
In an "action alert" distributed last week, Rushfeldt wrote that if C-415 becomes law in Canada, "the following consequences will result, especially once hate crime charges are brought before the courts":
* The Bible, at least certain portions of the Bible, may be declared "hate literature."
* Churches will not be able to mention certain Scriptures.
* Clergy may be subjected to criminal charges if they refuse to marry homosexuals.
* Parents may be subjected to criminal charges if they refuse to allow their children to attend classes that teach about and promote homosexual behavior.
* Expressing disagreement with homosexual behavior or the homosexual agenda, either verbally or in writing, would be considered hate propaganda.
* Educators, including those at private religious schools, will not be able to refuse to teach homosexual curriculum.
* Religious institutions will not be allowed to teach anything non-supportive of homosexual sex.
* Canadian Blood Services will not be allowed to screen risk-behavior donors.
* Governments (including local municipalities) will be prevented from passing (even debating) sex standards laws.
In his letter to constituents, Robinson defends the necessity of the bill by using the example of American Fred Phelps, known for his website "http://www.godhatesfags.com." Robinson said that when Phelps wanted to come to Canada to "pursue his campaign of hatred against gay and lesbian people," Canadian police lamented that there was nothing in the criminal code to stop him.
Robinson quotes Sgt. Pat Callaghan, head of the hate crimes unit of the Ottawa-Carleton Police Department: "If we had that legislation, we wouldn't have to put up with his nonsense €| . We could have told him, 'If you show up and start spreading this hate, we'll arrest you.'"
Opponents point out, however, that Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., bases his views on religious grounds, which contradicts Robinson's claim that he does not intend to shut down religious discussion.
EGALE's Vance told WorldNetDaily that she believes, however, that religious speech must be limited.
"There's a huge difference between someone being allowed to practice their religion and taking out ads in the newspaper saying that gay and lesbian people are sick and immoral," said EGALE's Vance. "There is a line there, and it's been crossed."
Responding to concerns about free speech, Robinson said the law has an additional protection in that no criminal proceeding can be instituted without the consent of the provincial attorney general, which "will prevent frivolous or trivial prosecutions."
Clemenger said, however, that provincial law officials across the country have expressed support for the bill and have shown deference to homosexual activists in their decisions.
Robinson said the Canadian Association of Police Boards adopted a resolution in support of C-415 at its annual general meeting Aug. 23, "noting that equal protection and treatment of all citizens is fundamental to a fair justice system."
Not a dead issue
Robinson's bill passed a "vote in principle" in the House of Commons in May with just 16 MPs present and must pass a final vote before submission to the Senate, where opponents say it likely would be rubber stamped. Bills that become law pass a final formality of "royal assent" from the queen's representative, the governor general.
Some Canadians mistakenly have believed that the bill is a dead issue, according to opponents, because when a new session of Parliament convenes, all legislation from the previous session dies.
But according to the rules, if Robinson resubmits the bill within 30 days of the Sept. 30 "Speech from the Throne" which outlines Parliament's plans for the year the legislation will continue on its track from the same position it had before.
Bill Siksay, Robinson's assistant at his Burnaby, B.C., office, said Robinson was unavailable for comment. He told WND, however, that the MP has indicated his intent to reintroduce the bill this week.
Patrice Martin, clerk of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for the House of Commons, which would handle the bill, said he expects C-415 to be reactivated.
Martin's committee then would prioritize the bill among other submissions by government and members of parliament. The committee could either delay C-415 a private members bill or send it back to the House for a "third reading" and final vote, possibly with amendments.
Enough votes
Vance believes that based on the voting pattern of MPs, enough votes are there to pass C-415. She notes passage of a law that added sexual orientation as a factor in sentencing for crimes motivated by hatred.
"Our sense is there is very strong support for [C-415]," she said. "To me, this is just a natural extension of the sentencing law. If you agree that sexual orientation is a motivating factor for hate crimes, then it's logical to have it for speech."
Her group is preparing a brief for the justice committee and plans to submit a petition that it circulated in the summer.
The issue has received little attention in the Canadian press, says opponent Jim Enos, vice chairman of the Hamilton-Wentworth Family Action Council in Ontario.
"We're asleep as a nation," said Enos. "Outside of families who are made aware through the churches, you never hear anybody talking about it."
"I don't think people are all that politically minded as a whole, unless they are closely linked to a church," Enos added. "They're more concerned about the price of a VCR or DVD."
Syrian-Produced TV Series Questions Israel's Right to Exist
Julie Stahl
Jerusalem Bureau Chief
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1229311.html
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - A Syrian-produced television series airing during the Muslim month of Ramadan is even worse than an anti-Semitic Egyptian production that drew international condemnation last year, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
Ash-Shatat (The Diaspora) is a purportedly historical drama based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion . It details the development of the Jewish national movement, Zionism, and the creation of the State of Israel.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion , a fabricated booklet from the early twentieth century, describes an alleged plot by Jewish leaders to take over the world. Historians have debunked it as a political forgery written by Russian Czar Nicholas II's secret police in an attempt to make the Jewish people a scapegoat for the country's problems.
The first of the program's 26 segments began airing during prime time last week at the start of Ramadan, when Muslims fast all day and feast at night. The program has come under harsh criticism from both Israel and the U.S.
"We are condemning it. We are taking it in a very harsh way," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Amira Oron.
"Besides being anti-Semitic, [it calls into question] the legitimacy of the State of Israel, [saying] that the State of Israel was born in sin," Oron said. "It is sad to see countries producing [programs] with such hostility and anti-Semitism, denying Israel's right to exist."
"My impression is that it is even worse [than the Egyptian program last year]," Oron said.
The Egyptian miniseries, Knight (or Horseman) Without a Horse, was also based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and it aired during Ramadan last year. The U.S., Israel and other countries condemned it as anti-Semitic.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said earlier in relation to this year's series that the U.S. was "strongly opposed to any and all displays of anti-Semitism" and viewed as "unacceptable" programming that recognized the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which he labeled an "anti-Semitic forgery."
Boucher, who said Washington had been in touch with Lebanon and Syria regarding the series, said that the programs "do not contribute to the climate of mutual understanding and tolerance that the Middle East so desperately needs."
The programs are being aired on the al-Manar satellite channel, which is owned by the terrorist organization Hizballah, based in Lebanon. It is available to viewers with satellite dishes (a common convenience) throughout the Middle East.
But the film's credits give "special thanks" to various Syrian government ministries, including the security ministry, the culture ministry, the Damascus Police Command and the Department of Antiquities and Museums, said the Anti-Defamation League, which is monitoring and summarizing the Arabic-language programs from Jerusalem.
Syria has been at odds with Washington since President Bashar Assad refused a U.S. demand to close the offices of terrorist organizations headquartered in his capital and allowed the flow of weapons and fighters cross the border into Iraq to fight U.S. and allied forces there.
On Sunday, al-Manar aired a promotion for the program dealing with American and Israeli criticism of the series, the ADL told CNSNews.com.
The promo shows scenes from the series with a caption in Arabic, which says, "We are standing in front of a campaign aimed at legitimatizing the Jewish religion and land in the Arab and Muslim land."
Earlier, al-Manar, which gained its reputation in the Arab world from showing footage of Hizballah attacking Israeli targets, said in a statement that the series offered the channel's view of "the stages of the Zionist movement...how it was able to affect the decision-making centers in Europe and establish the Zionist entity in Palestine by criminal and dirty means."
According to the Anti-Defamation League, which is monitoring and summarizing the Arabic programs from Jerusalem, the episode opens with a message being typed into a typewriter that says: "Two thousand years ago the Jewish Rabbis established an international government aiming at maintaining the world under its control and suppressing it under the Talmudic [Jewish Biblical commentary] commands, and totally isolating them from all of the people.
"Then the Jews started to incite wars and conflicts, while those countries disclaimed them. They falsely pretended to be persecuted, awaiting their savior, the Messiah, who will terminate the revenge against the Goyim [gentiles] that their God, Jehovah, started.
"In the beginning of the 19th century, the international government decided to increase the conspiracies and the Jewish international secret government was established, headed by [international banker Baron] Rothschild."
As the music of Israel's national anthem, HaTikva (The Hope) is played, viewers are told that the series is based on more than 250 historical sources and Jewish documents connected to the Protocols as well as other sources including the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), Jewish commentaries and the memoirs of Theodore Hertzl, the founder of modern Zionism.
The program begins in Frankfurt, Germany in 1812, with a Jewish man on his deathbed telling his sons that the Jewish people control the world through their "money, knowledge, politics, murdering and sex." He tells them that the Messiah will not come until every non-Jew is extinct and the Jews rule the world and advises them to infiltrate into foreign governments and disseminate their views.
During the first seven episodes Hertzl is portrayed as a conspirator who will do anything to accomplish his goal.
Another figure in the program is Alfred Dreyfus, portrayed as a Jewish infiltrator in the French army, who was sentenced to death for spying but sent to jail instead.
(In reality, Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was unjustly accused of treason, primarily because of the prevailing climate of anti-Semitism in France. He was later acquitted. And Herzl, as a young journalist covering the trial, witnessed mobs chanting "Death to Jews" and resolved that the only solution was the establishment of a Jewish state.)
Various other portrayals of Jews include a diseased Jewish prostitute who asks her Jewish madam not to give her Jewish clients, implying that she didn't want to infect them but it was all right to infect non-Jews; and her father who is a traitor that the Rabbi orders be tortured before he is killed in the synagogue.
ADL's National Director Abraham Foxman said his organization is "greatly concerned about the program's potential to foment anti-Semitism at a time when anti-Jewish sentiments are rampant in the Arab world."
Brave new schools
Christian dad protests devil mascot
Threatens to sue if items containing image not removed
Posted: November 9, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
©2003WorldNetDaily.com
Kenneth Locklear had no idea when he enrolled his daughter at Roosevelt Middle School in West Palm Beach, Fla., for its math, science and technology magnet program that the school was also the home of the devils.
Locklear was horrified when his daughter showed him a band T-shirt depicting Roosevelt's devil mascot complete with horns, pointy ears and a thick mustache.
Roosevelt Middle School's devil mascot (Photo: Sun-Sentinel/Ken Locklear)
Locklear, a Christian, wants the school board to establish a ban on devil symbols and says he's willing to pay the school with his own money to get rid of all its devil-related items.
“It is a hideous portrayal of the devil,” he tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Three other schools in the district have devil mascots. Officials say no one else has objected, and each school has a right to pick its own symbol, according to the paper.
A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County School Board says members of a local church have been conducting meetings in Roosevelt's gym, where the devil image appears on the floor, and they too have voiced no objections.
Locklear insists his appeal is a matter of separating church and state, and he's considering suing if the school district doesn't give in.
“What if this was a cross?” he asked the paper. “Because it is the devil it doesn't seem to be recognized as a religious symbol. That will change.”
Susan R. Garrett, author of the book, "The Demise of the Devil," says public objections to devil mascots are common but says the devil is a religious symbol that has lost its biblical connection in modern society, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Legal challenges to devil mascots are common around the nation, but they have failed so far. In 1996 three public school students in Ohio filed a federal suit against their high school for using a Blue Devil mascot, a symbol they thought to be satanic. A federal court ruled against the students, and an appeals court upheld that decision, reports the paper.
According to the Associated Press, high schools in Devil's Lake, Mich., and Devils Lake, N.D., voted in 2002 to replace long-held team names "the Satans" because of concerns
NYC district denies birth of Jesus?
Creche barred as not 'historically accurate representation of an event'
Posted: November 12, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
©2003WorldNetDaily.com
In a dispute over display of holiday symbols, New York City schools are allowing Jewish menorahs and Islamic crescents but barring Christian nativity scenes, alleging the depiction of the birth of Christ does not represent a historical event.
In pleadings with a federal court in defense of the ban, New York City lawyers asserted the "suggestion that a crèche is a historically accurate representation of an event with secular significance is wholly disingenuous."
The Jewish and Islamic symbols are allowed, the district says, because they have a secular dimension, but the Christian symbols are "purely religious."
Robert J. Muise, who will challenge the school policy at a federal court hearing tomorrow in Brooklyn, told WorldNetDaily be believes most Americans don't see it that way.
"The birth of Jesus is a historical event which serves as the basis for celebration of Christmas," Muise stated. "It's of importance for both Christians and non-Christians."
Muise's Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center filed a motion to temporarily restrain the city from enforcing its ban on nativity scenes. The center asserts New York's policy "promotes the Jewish and Islamic faiths while conveying the impermissible message of disapproval of Christianity in violation of the U.S. Constitution."
The Michigan group says one public-school principal issued a memo encouraging teachers to bring to school "religious symbols" that represent the Islamic and Jewish religions, but made no mention of Christianity.
Jewish menorahs adorned the halls of the school as part of the authorized displays, the More Center said, but students were not allowed to make and similarly display nativity scenes
A parent who wrote a letter of complaint to her son's teacher received a copy of the school's "Holiday Displays" policy in response.
Kate Ahlers, communications director for New York City's law department, says schools can use things that are secular like menorahs, stars and snowflakes, but the crèche is considered religious.
"There is a separation of church and state that is part of the Constitution," she claimed. "It's a clear belief that people try to follow in schools and public office, and schools are saying they adhere to that belief."
The point of schools, she added, "is not to debate religion; the point of schools is to teach children."
The federal civil-rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of Andrea Skoros and her two elementary-school children against the city of New York and several school officials.
Skoros and her children are devout Roman Catholics.
"Can Christianity be erased from a public school?" Muse asked in a statement. "Can 'Christ' be removed from Christmas? We will soon find out."
Related stories:
Christmas in America becomes battleground
School bans Christmas, but OK with Halloween
School bans saying 'Christmas'
Ban on Christmas leads to court fight
Editor's note: "THE MYTH OF CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION" - the special November edition of WND's acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine - documents conclusively that the modern legal doctrine of "separation of church and state" is the work of activist judges, and has utterly no basis in the Constitution.
Christmas in America becomes battleground
As holiday traditions draw national controversy, believers, pagans grapple over Jesus' inclusion
Posted: December 14, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
©2002WorldNetDaily.com
Every December, a call goes out from the nation's pulpits to "put Christ back into Christmas," but growing numbers of Americans including fundamentalist Christians are claiming Jesus Christ had nothing to do with the holiday, and news items from across the country this week indicate that the U.S. has become the new battleground for Christmas.
Cases in point:
* A first-grade teacher in Sacramento Co., Calif., says her principal has prohibited instructors from uttering the word "Christmas" in class or in written materials;
* A school superintendent in Yonkers, N.Y., banned, then unbanned, holiday decorations that contained religious themes more than the generic "season's greetings";
* New York City schools are being sued for alleged discrimination against Christians;
* and atheists reposted their vandalized winter solstice sign in the Wisconsin Capitol, as they declare "Christians stole Christmas" from ancient pagans.
All this comes on the heels of a national survey indicating just over a tenth of Americans today believe Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the focus of Christmas, with almost nine out of ten people saying the holiday has become less religious.
Are atheists correct that the very day set aside by hundreds of millions across the world to honor the birth of their Savior is merely a relic of sun worship? And if it is, why would some schools ban it? And even if today's holiday traditions have their roots in heathen practices, should Christians who wish to be true to their faith take part?
Sign of the times
"The real reason for the season is winter solstice," proclaims Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation which re-erected its atheistic message Monday in the rotunda of the state seat of government.
After six years on display, her placard had been damaged last December by an unknown assailant, and has since been repaired.
Atheists' winter solstice sign at Wisconsin Capitol
The front of the sign states: "At this season of the winter solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
The back reads: "State/Church: Keep them separate," and carries a little caveat, advising "Thou shalt not steal."
The 23-by-30-inch billboard was OK'd as part of Wisconsin's seasonal display which also features menorahs, angels, and what appears to be a giant Christmas tree more than two stories tall.
"We call it a 'holiday' tree," said Brian Hayes, deputy secretary for Wisconsin's department of administration. "We're trying to be sensitive to [the public]."
That politically correct terminology comes despite the dismissal of a lawsuit last year where the message content of items adorning the state tree had been challenged, yet it's indicative of the thought-conscious age of the 21st century.
Banned in the USA
The fact that atheists view Christmas with disdain is not astonishing, since they've attempted to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God we trust" from U.S. currency, as well as Ten Commandments displays from numerous publicly owned places.
What may be surprising, though, is that some devout Christians, many dating all the way back to the days of Jesus, never celebrated the birth of Christ, nor sought to. America's early colonists banned observance of Christmas, and still today, there are many Christians abstaining from what millions more of their brethren joyfully celebrate as God's coming in human form.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states, '"the word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Cristes-messe, in 1131."
It explains "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church," pointing out "first evidence of the feast is from Egypt" around A.D. 200 with attempts by theologians to assign not only the year of Christ's birth, but also the precise date.
Historians agree that through the subsequent centuries, traditions from ancient pagan (non-Christian) religions became intertwined with those of Christianity, and depending upon one's point of view, either paganism became Christianized, or Christianity became paganized.
In 1644, the English Parliament, outlawed the holiday, compelling shops to be open that day, and condemning plum puddings and mince pies as "heathen."
In his Pulitzer Prize finalist, "The Battle for Christmas," historian Stephen Nissenbaum at the University of Massachusetts documents the American development of the holiday now ensconced in popular culture.
"In New England, for the first two centuries of white settlement," writes Nissenbaum, "most people did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, the holiday was systematically suppressed by Puritans during the colonial period and largely ignored by their descendants. It was actually illegal to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681 (the fine was five shillings). Only in the middle of the nineteenth century did Christmas gain legal recognition as an official public holiday in New England."
Nissenbaum agrees with other historians that the first recorded observance since the New Testament recounted Christ's birth took place hundreds of years after Jesus' resurrection.
"It was only in the fourth century that the Church officially decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25. And this date was not chosen for religious reasons but simply because it happened to mark the approximate arrival of the winter solstice, an event that was celebrated long before the advent of Christianity. The Puritans were correct when they pointed out and they pointed it out often that Christmas was nothing but a pagan festival covered with a Christian veneer."
Christmas in America saw huge growth during the 19th century, starting with Washington Irving's 1820 book "The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall." A week before Christmas in 1834, Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol," and in 1860, American illustrator Thomas Nast created Father Christmas, also known as Santa Claus, based on European stories of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children.
Spirit of the rising sun
Today, followers of ancient paganism strive to remind the public about the heathen origins of traditions that many may never have questioned. They've published books, given speeches, and created websites proffering a heathen history of modern customs.
CircleSanctuary.org is among the Internet addresses run by nature-worshipping pagans. Author Selena Fox discusses the state of being pagan and celebrating the lengthening of days during the Northern Hemisphere's darkest time of year.
"Yule, the winter solstice, is a festival of peace and a celebration of waxing solar light. I honor the new sun child by burning a[n] oaken yule log in a sacred fire. I honor the great goddess in her many great mother aspects, and the father god as Santa in his old sky god, father time, and holly king forms. I decorate my home with lights and with holly, ivy, mistletoe, evergreens and other herbs sacred to this season. I ring in the new solar year with bells."
Fox even provides a list of suggestions on how 21st century citizens can take part in the ancient rituals, to "re-paganize" Christmastime:
* Have gift exchanges and feasts over the course of several days and nights as was done of old
* Adorn the home with sacred herbs and colors; decorate in druidic holiday colors of red, green and white
* Hang a sprig of mistletoe above a major threshold and leave it there until next yule as a charm for good luck throughout the year
* Have family/household members join together to make or purchase an evergreen wreath
* If you choose to have a living or a harvested evergreen tree as part of your holiday decorations, call it a solstice tree and decorate it with pagan symbols
* Reclaim Santa Claus as a pagan godform by decorating him with images that reflect his various heritages ranging from the Greek god Cronos (father time) to Odin, the Scandinavian all-father riding the sky on an eight-legged horse
* Place pagan mother-goddess images around your home, possibly including one with a sun child, such as Isis with Horus
* Honor the new solar year with light light candles, burn a yule log and save a portion for the following year, put colored lights outside your home, and with the popularity of five-pointed stars, consider displaying a blue or white pentagram.
The greatest story never told?
The pagan connections to Christmas are not news to the likes of Garner Ted Armstrong, a Christian evangelist and political commentator based in Tyler, Texas. Armstrong has been proclaiming such information for the past 46 years on a peak of 135 television and 360 radio stations, stating "it is impossible to 'put Christ back in Christmas,' since He was never in Christmas in the first place!"
"None of the apostles of Christ ever heard of the term; not one of them ever celebrated Christ's birthday," writes Armstrong in his booklet "Christmas ... The Untold Story." "The words Christmas, holly wreath, mistletoe, Rudolph, Santa Claus and Christmas tree do not appear anywhere in the Bible."
Armstrong is among Christians who believe God's plan of salvation for mankind is more accurately depicted through holidays which are frequently mentioned in Scripture, such as Passover and the Day of Atonement. If anything, he thinks Dec. 25 would most likely be Jesus' conception day, thus placing his birth in the autumn, possibly during the Feast of Tabernacles, symbolizing God's "tabernacling" that is to say, dwelling with mankind.
Like-minded preachers say the Bible warns extensively about adopting pagan customs, pointing to the 10th chapter of Jeremiah to specifically cite the practice of tree decoration, which some historians date back to ancient Egypt and Babylon:
"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (Jer 10:2-4)
Armstrong says the pagan celebrations, including winter's Saturnalia, or feast of Saturn in ancient Rome, crept into ostensible Christianity over many years, and some writers began urging a celebration at the same time as the secular events "for the simple reason that so many pagans were already accustomed to 'joyous,' sometimes 'riotous' orgies of feasting at the time of the winter solstice."
"It would be a sin for me [to celebrate Christmas], but it doesn't mean it's the unpardonable sin," Armstrong told WorldNetDaily, stressing he doesn't feel at all threatened by the holiday.
"I have no more difficulty walking through Beijing at the Chinese New Year and seeing the dragons and fireworks. It doesn't affect me. ... [the Apostle] Paul says the idol is nothing."
While Armstrong teaches against the observance of Christmas, he adds that most people who celebrate it are doing so with good intentions, simply unaware of the facts regarding its origins, and they should neither be judged nor condemned by fellow believers in Jesus. He encourages people to type words like "origins of Christmas" into Internet search engines to find out for themselves the background on the customs.
Angels in the outfield
For millions of Christians, the story of Christmas in the Bible is among the most beloved, and is one of their foundations of faith that God came to dwell as a man and offer eternal life to mankind. It is both simple enough to be understood by young children, and has majestic meaning to provide adults with inspiration and awe.
The events surrounding the birth of Christ are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which give an almost play-by-play description:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:8-14)
The shepherds subsequently found the child in the manger, but unlike depictions on many modern holiday cards and Nativity scenes, there were no wise men present at the birth. The Gospel of Matthew says the Magi arrived at a house, not the manger. And as for the tradition of three wise men, the Bible never mentions their number only the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Those gifts were presented to Jesus, not exchanged with other people.
The accounts don't mention a tree evergreen or otherwise nor do they specify the time of year. Some analysts theorize that since the shepherds were still out in the fields by night watching their flocks, the event could not have been in winter, due to plunging temperatures. Still others think Dec. 25 has a valid claim on the actual event.
Spirit of the rising Son
"I believe the celebration of Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to honor Christ and share the gospel," says Rev. Jerry Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University in Virginia and one of America's best known ministers. Falwell is a staunch defender of the holiday he's celebrated for every one of the 69 years he's been alive.
"And I plan to celebrate it on the 'other side,'" he tells WorldNetDaily.
Falwell acknowledges that many of the customs associated with the observance are not found in the Bible, but he doesn't have a problem with that.
"The Christmas tree and Santa Claus don't bother me," he said. "If we can use anything to get people under the sound of the gospel, without violating Scripture, it's a good thing."
While there are some unknowns such as the exact date of birth, Falwell stresses "we do know He was born virgin-born as the Son of God."
Yet over 2,000 years after that history-changing event, most Americans think Christ is fading from the Christmas picture, at least according to a recent poll.
When the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University asked if "most people focus on the birth of Jesus at Christmas time, or has the holiday become less religious than it used to be?" only 11 percent said they believed Christmas was still about Jesus, with 87 percent responding "less religious."
Close to half of adults 45 percent say they personally know someone who doesn't believe in God, but still will celebrate the holiday this year; 62 percent say they'll attend a religious service on Christmas Eve or Day; and 81 percent plan to put a decorated tree in their home this year.
"Do I put up a tree? I have in the past; this year I won't," says Jose Negron, a 34-year-old Christian minister at the Stonehouse Church to the Nations in Toano, Va. Even without the tree, he still plans to celebrate Christmas.
"I grew up in America. It's an historical constant," Negron said.
President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the National Christmas Tree in 1940
Indeed, trees and their decoration have played a role in American history, even in the nation's darkest hours. In 1942, just a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill came to Washington to join President Franklin Roosevelt in lighting the National Christmas Tree, a tradition started by Calvin Coolidge in 1923.
"Against enemies who preach the principles of hate and practice them, we set our faith in human love and in God's care for us all men everywhere," said Roosevelt.
Thousands of citizens turned out for the event, which was broadcast nationwide on radio in the grips of World War II.
"Let the children have their night of fun and laughter," proclaimed Churchill. "Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied the right to live in a free and decent world."
The tree-lighting ceremonies continue to this day, with President George W. Bush having two dedications under his belt.
The history of mankind's fascination with trees long antedates World War II, the founding of America, and even the Middle Ages. Historians have found evidence of tree decoration and tree worship in places such as ancient Rome and Egypt. The Old Testament also records God's displeasure with his own people for following pagan practices involving trees:
* "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves." (Judges 3:7)
* "For the Lord shall smite Israel ... because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger." (1 Kings 14:15)
* "For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree." (1 Kings 14:23)
In the 1800s, Alexander Hislop, a noted historian of antiquity, examined the origins of customs such as the Christmas tree and date of celebration. Writing in "The Two Babylons," Hislop maintains the practice derives from the worship of pagan deities.
The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in pagan Rome and pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the pagan Messiah. ... The mother of Adonis, the sun god and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been [recognized] as the "Man the branch." And this entirely accounts for the putting of the yule log into the fire on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning. ...
Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed at Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth, was held at the Natalis invicti solis, "The birthday of the unconquered sun." Now the yule log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is Nimrod redivivus the slain god come to life again.
The 2001 National Christmas Tree took on patriotic colors in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks
"I can count about a hundred trees, wreaths, poinsettia displays, lights, everywhere I look [in my office] complex," says Bob Sipsky, of Stuart, Fla. "Christmas gorge-as-much-food-as-you-can eat-a-ramas every day for two weeks. Enough already."
Sipsky is a Bible believer not affiliated with any organized church. He celebrated Christmas for 35 years before abandoning it, now thinking it an insult to God.
"There are clearly explained festivals that God tells us to observe, which teach how to have peace on earth, and what the true Savior requires of us," Sipsky says, "yet mankind ignores these, and prefers to make up his own festivals and traditions. Christmas is based in deception: its origins; lying to small children about Santa Claus; talking about having peace on earth while ignoring God's instructions on how to achieve it; saying it is biblical, while 99 percent of it is all about commerce and other selfish objectives. Myths and traditions do not please the God of the Bible, a right way of living does. Deception is at the top of the list of what He hates."
That anti-Christmas view is echoed by Tom Moniz of Hobe Sound, Fla. "Being a God-fearing man, I cannot honor a lie, nor do I think adopting a pagan holiday and calling it his birthday does any honor to him."
"Most of these people are killjoys," says Rev. Falwell regarding those who attack the celebration of Christmas. "Most of these tightwads just don't want to [spend] cash. ... I don't take my children or grandchildren near them."
To many Christians, Christmastime is among the most sacred times of the year, and they look to keep it that way.
"It's the reason for being a Christian, because we believe Jesus is God," says Louis Giovino, director of communications for the New York-based Catholic League, the nation's largest Catholic civil-rights organization.
With recent controversies surrounding Christmas in the public arena, the league has issued a list of guidelines to help people understand what kind of religious expression is permissible at this time of year.
Giovino admits the observance has picked up some pagan customs over the years, but says they've been "baptized" by the Church. He notes by the time of Dickens in England, the holiday took on a more raucous tone, with drinking parties and violence, and says the Protestant legislation to outlaw Christmas was in direct response to the riotous revelry.
"The Puritans weren't into celebrating anything," he said.
Giovino stresses the important part of Christmas is the larger picture of the Christian message, the belief that "the Word became flesh."
"It's not like saying 'Happy birthday, Jesus!'" he exclaimed. "I think personally Christmas is ridiculous without Christ. Otherwise, we might as well celebrate the winter solstice as pagans."
The baby with the bathwater?
With the extremes on Christmas observance ranging from total holiday indulgence to complete abstention, there are plenty of people who seek middle ground. Pastor Richard Bucher of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Clinton, Mass., is one of them, asserting celebrating Christmas is not pagan.
"It's laudable that certain Christians care so much about pleasing God to ask the question if it's right," Bucher told WorldNetDaily, "but a lot of arguments they're making are just not sound. They end up placing guilt on Christians celebrating Christmas and do a real disservice."
On his church website, Bucher addresses examples such as the tree decorated with silver and gold in Jeremiah's 10th chapter, and explains upon close examination, it does not refer to anything like a Christmas tree.
"The very next verse, 10:5, goes on to say, 'Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.' This passage and the passages that follow make it crystal clear that the 'decorated tree' that Jeremiah was talking about in 10:3-4, was a tree that was cut down and made into an idol, a very common custom in the ancient world."
"Just because heathens took something God has created for good," he asks, "does that mean such things are off limits [to Christians] permanently?"
He says many have invented sin where God has not said that something is sinful, and adds the issue boils down to what exactly is meant by "Christmas."
"Is it thanking God for the birth of the Savior, or everything that people do associated with it? People just lump everything together."
Despite all the conflict, some believers have little problem with the controversies over Christmas; in fact, they rejoice in them.
"Those who would attempt to take Christ out of Christmas are fighting a losing battle," says Joan Driscoll of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "The harder they try, the stronger the holy message and meaning of Jesus' birth becomes. The heavenly voices of the angels singing 'Alleluia' will easily drown out the guttural tones of the dissenters."
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School bans Christmas, but OK with Halloween
Despite massive promotion of October holiday, district reverses approval of talk on Jesus' birth
Posted: December 19, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
©2002WorldNetDaily.com
'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the class, a storm was stirring over Christmas present, and Christmas past.
The rhyme may sound trite, but the complaint is real from a San Diego mother who has been told by school officials she can no longer read a Christmas story to her daughter's class, despite having the green light in recent years.
"I'm very upset with it," Patrice Reynolds told WorldNetDaily. "I feel that my kids and other kids are being cheated and deceived. This is history, just like George Washington."
For the past several years with the consent of the Del Mar Union School District, Reynolds has been going into one of her four children's classes to read and discuss how her family celebrates Christmas at home. She brings a Nativity scene, and sometimes a children's Bible or storybook to aid in discussing family traditions.
But when she called to schedule a presentation this year in her daughter Grace's fourth-grade class at the Sage Canyon School, she was rejected, with the teacher telling her even instructors were not permitted to wear jewelry with a Christmas theme.
"They didn't say you can't do it because it's a religious topic, but that's their basis," said Patrice's husband Rob, a civil litigation attorney. "Not allowing anyone to talk doesn't promote diversity, it promotes intolerance. Schools promote and talk about alternative lifestyles that are damaging, then are intolerant of your point of view."
Sage Canyon School, serving kindergarten through sixth grade, opened in September 2000, and has an enrollment in its third year of approximately 600 students in 29 classes.
Sage Canyon School's 'kinder team' dressing up as witches for Halloween
On its website, it shows both teachers and students participating in another well-known holiday with religious connotations Halloween. Kindergarten teachers are dressed up as witches in one photograph, and costumed students are shown listening to a classroom reading in another.
Children in costume for Halloween at Sage Canyon School
"You can't allow discussions of certain holidays and ban discussion of others," says Gary Kreep, executive director of the United States Justice Foundation, a conservative legal-action foundation which is reviewing this case. "It's a violation not only of California law, but also the U.S. Constitution."
Neither Sage Canyon's principal, Jeff Swenerton, nor the district superintendent, Tom Bishop, returned repeated requests for comment, but the district did provide a fax of its policy regarding recognition of religious beliefs and customs.
According to the policy:
* Special school events, assemblies, concerts and programs must be designed to further the board-approved curriculum and may not focus on any one religion or religious observance;
* School employees are permitted to teach about religious holidays but are not permitted to celebrate religious holidays during school hours;
* School employees may not endorse, advance, or inhibit a specific religion;
* The use of religious symbols is permissible as a teaching aid or resource. Religious symbols may be displayed on a temporary basis provided that the symbols that are displayed are examples of the cultural and religious heritage of the holiday.
"It's perfectly acceptable to discuss holidays," Kreep said, "just not in a proselytizing fashion. Many school districts believe they're above the law; their arrogance just amazes me."
The San Diego case comes on the heels of several Christmas-related battles across America last week involving government venues:
* As WorldNetDaily was the first to report, a first-grade teacher in Sacramento Co., Calif., said her principal has prohibited instructors from uttering the word "Christmas" in class or in written materials;
* a school superintendent in Yonkers, N.Y., banned, then unbanned, holiday decorations that contained religious themes more than the generic "season's greetings";
* and a federal lawsuit was filed against New York City schools claiming the district's policy "unlawfully discriminates against Christians" because it "prohibits the display of [Christian] Nativity scenes" in public schools during Christmas, while it "expressly permits and encourages&q