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Bloggers Unite: Algeria and Christian Persecution

You still have a chance to visit the great work of bloggers in an effort called Bloggers Unite for Human Rights.

Here is my contribution:

Algeria: Carry a Bible, Go to Jail

While many of the cultural battles centered on religion in the U.S. involve legal positioning on church and state issues, very real physical persecution of faith exists in many other parts of the world.

A few websites monitor and report on these atrocities, many of which go with little mention or unreported in the mainstream media. Two sites whose mission includes reporting on religious persecution are Compass Direct News and Persecution Blog

Here’s a recent example of persecution. This from Compass Direct News:

ALGIERS, Algeria, May 9 – An Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said.

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Bloggers For Chad Farnan - Looking Through 'Jesus Glasses'

When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth. - James Corbett, Teacher

Much like Rosa Parks, Chad Farnan sat in the back of the bus too many times. Only with Farnan, it’s not about a bus, such as the ones during Parks’ era in which blacks were told they could only sit in the back seats.

For Farnan, he sits in a high school history class where he is told by his teacher for more days than he cared to tolerate that Christians and Christians like himself were ignorant. Farnan doesn’t want to sit in a classroom anymore where he is required to listen to Christian bashing…so he and his parents are suing the Capistrano Valley Unified School District.

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Freethought Society Mocks Christmas Tree Tradition

A Tree of Knowledge

Atheists in Philadelphia have apparently chosen Christmas time to start their own tradition of putting up a cut pine tree…only instead of Christmas decorations, the tree is adorned with book covers.

The Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia's ‘A Tree of Knowledge’ is displayed at the Chester County Courthouse beside three traditional holiday displays.

Ah yes, “A Tree of Knowledge”…nothing brightens an atheist’s “holiday” time more than a tree decorated with copies of covers of books, including “Why I Am Not A Christian,” “Why I Am Not a Muslim” and “Judaism Beyond God.”

Oh, yes, there’s a cover of the Koran and Bible, too! What a gloriously all-inclusive holiday this is!

Despite a large portion of Americans giving reverance to the Christmas tree and it’s relation to a holy day in the Christian calendar, none have called for the members of the Freethought Society to be whipped, jailed, or even executed.

The Tree of Knowledge stands next to three other religious displays and as the group’s president Margaret Downey said, is “welcoming to agnostics, atheists, humanists, skeptics, rationalists of all kinds.”

This from The Philadelphia Inquirer:

As there was last year, there is also a Chamber of Commerce tree - 32 feet high - meant to attract shoppers, as well as a Christian creche and a Jewish menorah.

When told of the Freethought display, Colin Hanna, a former county commissioner whose organization - Pennsylvania Pastors Network - is sponsoring the creche, said, “Their intention is to use the courthouse to make a political statement?

“That seems to me a pretty fundamental perversion of the purpose of holiday displays . . .”

Downey said her display, which she is calling “A Tree of Knowledge,” is decorated with covers of works such as the Bible.

“The reason we advocate reading the Bible,” she said in an interview, “is because so many people become atheists upon completing the entire reading of it.”

What a loving group this is! What a “thoughtful” group, too! Never mind that many more become SAVED after reading the Bible, deciding to accept Jesus Christ!

I have no problem with the Tree of Knowledge going up whatever time of year. I think it’s a great time to ask atheists what they are so really angry about. Why do they have to mock Christmas and Christians (apparently really dumb because they don’t read enough books)?

I’ll tell you what, Freethought Society. You go ahead and put “free thought” above all else and we’ll see where your best thinking gets you.

As for me, I’ll be happy to recognize that I’m really not that smart, but for the grace of God.

I’m happy to recognize something else as well:

I’m living in a country where no one is calling for your heads, even for such obvious mockery.

- Alexander, TheScroogeReport.com

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HUD Pulls a Scrooge, Visited By the Ghost of Christmas Emails

Even Ebenezer Scrooge had an awakening.



This Week’s Top Scrooge - November 10, 2007

By ALEXANDER


Although it took the visits of three ghosts for Scrooge to change from his miserly and anti-Christmas ways, it apparently only took the miracle of the internet to change the minds of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Earlier this week, HUD was at the center of a controversy surrounding a directive it issued banning “any religious symbols or religious words associated with Christmas.” Under the guidelines issued by HUD, an elderly Florida grandmother living in a mostly seniors apartment complex was directed not to place a small Christmas tree outside her door if it contains any religious symbols or religious words...and as the American Family Association alerted..."even an angel!"

Well, lo and behold, the AFA responded with a petition drive to overturn the decision. The family advocacy group set up a link to allow constituents to send e-mails to the HUD secretary or President Bush expressing their objections to the policy. And as WorldNetDaily reports, within a day, the response was forthcoming...

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2,000-plus Scrooges Nix Nativity Scene at Berkley City Hall

By a 55 to 45 percent margin, residents voted no on allowing a nativity scene to return to the lawn outside their City Hall Tuesday.



Church and State

They just wanted to take our nativity away. - Georgia Halloran

This from FOX News:

Voters in Berkley, Mich., turned down an amendment to the city charter on Tuesday that would have allowed a nativity scene to return to the lawn outside their City Hall.

The charter amendment failed by a 55 to 45 percent margin with 4,136 votes cast in total, according to unofficial results from the city clerk’s office.

Some residents of the town of more than 15,000 were outraged that the city and a local clergy association cut a deal with the American Civil Liberties Union to move a crèche, which had been displayed on public property for about 25 years, away from government grounds and onto a patch of grass outside a church.

The display spent its first Christmas at its new location last year, but those who want to return the nativity scene to public property petitioned to get the measure on Tuesday’s general election ballot.

"They didn't try to resolve it; they just wanted to take our nativity away," said Georgia Halloran, 62, who has led the drive to return the crèche to its former location. "People are very upset that the ACLU came in and told us to get rid of our nativity and the city capitulated to them."

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Offend Atheists 101: Simply Recommend Church

Colorado School District Sued for Listing Religious Activities as One of ‘40 Developmental Assets’

This Week’s Top Scrooge - October 19, 2007

By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport.com

It’s funny how your conscience works. For example, your friend could say to you, “Maybe you should go to the gym.” The next thing you do is say, “Why are you calling me fat?”

You don’t say, “Thanks for the recommendation!” Instead, you go to a therapist and tell them you feel offended and alienated. You say you are thinking about filing a lawsuit against your friend because you don’t believe in exercise and yet he or she violated your right to believe in a no-exercise lifestyle.

“How dare they recommend something that may possibly be good for me!”

Such is the case with an atheist family in Colorado who is suing the Cherry Creek School District. Only it’s not about the district recommending excercise, it’s about suggesting as one of 40 ways to help students be successful that they spend “one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution.”

Funny how our conscious works.

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