November 27, 2009 12:18 AM
Leesburg Courthouse Christmas ban not the first this year
From the Thomas More Law Center, which defends our Constitutional right to freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion - and please note that the oppressors in the following case actually call their organization the Freedom From Religion Foundation:First Battle of the 2009 Christmas Season over Nativity Displays; Federal Lawsuit FiledOctober 26, 2009
ANN ARBOR, MI -- For 63 years, a privately maintained nativity scene has been displayed during the Christmas season on a public median in Warren, Michigan. That 63 year-old tradition was abruptly ended by the Macomb County Road Commission, which controls private displays on public medians in the county, after it received a threatening letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist organization that has as its aim the removal of all religious symbols from the public square. Rather than stand up to the atheists, the Road Commission ordered the removal of the private nativity scene, in violation of the Constitution.
Last Friday, the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Warren city resident John Satawa against the Road Commission for its discriminatory decision to ban the private display. The purpose of the lawsuit is to obtain a declaratory judgment that the Road Commission's actions were unconstitutional and to obtain a court order permitting the nativity display. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen, Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Michigan. [link to lawsuit]
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, "Every Christmas holiday, militant atheists, acting like the Taliban, use the phrase 'separation of church and state,' -- nowhere found in our constitution -- as a means of intimidating municipalities and schools into removing expressions celebrating Christmas, a National Holiday. Their goal is to cleanse our public square of all Christian symbols. However, the grand purpose of our Founding Fathers and the First Amendment was to protect religion, not eliminate it. Municipalities and schools should be aware that the systematic exclusion of Christmas symbols during the holiday season is itself inconsistent with the Constitution."
Read more at the Thomas More Law Center.
Love,
Posted in Activism, Christmas, Loudoun County | Permalink
