In Santa Monica, battle over Christmas displays takes a new twist - Atheists win a majority of exhibit spots in a city park, displacing most of the traditional Nativity scenes, as the nation's annual tussle over religious displays on public land heats up.
In a sunny park overlooking the beach in Santa Monica, where a cool breeze blows in from the Pacific, the so-called war over Christmas has found its latest battlefield. Over almost six decades, a collection of Santa Monica's Christian churches have re-created the sprawling, life-sized Nativity scenes of Jesus Christ's birth. But this year, there's no room in the park. Atheist groups objected to churches' use of the public Palisades Park to espouse a religious message and applied to the city of Santa Monica for their own spaces. To keep it fair and legal, officials in the famously liberal city turned to a lottery to dole out spots in the prime location along Ocean Avenue.
Looks like the bigoted Christians don't like it when the city decides to play fair.
"A small group of out-of-town atheists is trying to hijack Santa Monica's nearly 60-year-long Christmas tradition," said Hunter Jameson, chairman of the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee, the group that works with more than a dozen churches and civic groups to organize the display.
This is prime proof that the religious communities are not really interested in being fair and sharing. And you wonder why the label "hypocrite" is used so many times for Christians? Read above, repeat.
Well, religion is not my strong suite, but I think it would be easy enough to just sit things out for a year of two and let the people decide what they want. Alternatively, if outdoor displays are your thing, then why not do it on Church property or private property? Why is it necessary to do it on public property?
Why do the athiests have to choose Christmastime to do their displays? Don't they have their own holy days? Like Stalin & Hitler's birthdays? Celebrate the publication of Marx's "opiate of the masses" paper?
Sounds as cynical as when the Christians stole their feast days from the Roman holidays.
I think people would love a nice, bright atheist holiday in the dark month of February.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
FredHayek wrote: Why do the athiests have to choose Christmastime to do their displays? Don't they have their own holy days? Like Stalin & Hitler's birthdays? Celebrate the publication of Marx's "opiate of the masses" paper?
Sounds as cynical as when the Christians stole their feast days from the Roman holidays.
I think people would love a nice, bright atheist holiday in the dark month of February.
You know... that is an Neanderthal answer. What did you do? Just learn to walk upright last week? Are you still fascinated by shiny objects? What's with the bigoted response? Why do you automatically equate an atheist with a Marxist or leftist political ideology?
I'm an atheist, and also a conservative. Are you trying to claim that a true conservative HAS TO BELIEVE IN GOD. Because your knuckle-dragging rhetoric certainly suggests that you think that way.
Wow... big whoop. Try answering my question next time. The Christian bigot are out in force this morning. Figures... tis' the season to be bigoted... fa la la la la...
