The statement in your cite is actually a quote from a lawyer who does not cite a specific ruling.
If displaying menohrahs and Christmas trees on state property is legal then who forced jrfranchi’s town to take their’s down?
Why do you think the ACLU would be interested in this?
It was one town over, not mine and I think they gave into a lawsuit rather than spend more than the Christmas budget fighting it.
Jim
Is it not a violation of church and state? It’s a Christmas display on city property.
FWIW, Christmas didn’t bother Isaac Asimov, either. IIRC he wrote he always got into the spirit of the season without actually believing in the Christian elements.
Of course, he also loved “The Star-Spangled Banner”, so I guess that makes him an ass-kissing jingoist conservative whore to some.
Well he was a bit of an butt-kissing jingoist but I don’t think he was much of a conservative and definitely not a whore.
He liked the USA the way I think only an immigrant can. He definitely disliked the USSR.
There’s a difference between a seasonal display and an endorsement of religion–I’d expect, given other court rulings I’ve seen on the subject, that it’s unconstitutional if and only if they refuse to give equal time/space to other religions that request similar displays be put up (within the bounds of good taste, etc.)
If a city puts up a christmas tree with city funds, and refuses to also put up a menorah or whatever the kwanzaa thing is called, on request, then I’d say it’s bad and SHOULD be an ACLU case. I have no objection to public funding for it in general, though, as long as everyone’s viewpoint is represented (where everyone is defined by the constituency of the municipality doing the decorating).
I think the fact the display is privately funded also has something to with it. It uses no public money, apparently. It doesn’t really even look religious. There are images of Santa Claus but I don’t know if Santa could really be called a religious image.
Even if there were some technical violation somewhere, I think this might be a case of the ACLU picking it’s fights.
Of course! You made my day.
I was on a picnic with the Good Doctor in 1970 where he sang all four verses. He told us he had memorized it so that he could tell righties who insulted him that he was more patriotic than they were. 
Kind of like atheists knowing the Bible better than many theists - something he also did.
Thank You. It is also nice to make someones day.
May I ask how you ended up on a picnic with Dr. Asimov?
That really sounds interesting.
Jim
While he can be smart and funny, he’s also capable of being a humorless, petty commentator when he wants to be. I have no idea why he wants to be that; still, there you have it. I think he’s vaguely funny at the beginning of this thing, but drops the act pretty fast. The piece itself is boilerplate.
Who is shoving atheism down B.S.'s throat?
Every year we are bombarded with Christmas decorations, TV shows and music beginning the day after Halloween. The promotion of Chirstmas is relentless. Yet we are now being told by Ben Stein and Bill O’Reilly that Christmas is under some kind of an attack. What? This is just a made-up issue for the right to get all upset about. Have to keep the troops in the fold somehow.
Here is another point of veiw from the Slate.
Christopher Hitchens seems to think differently from Mr. Stein.
Wow. I never knew he was that far to the right. I always thought he was more of a vanilla republican. Shit!
They should both be removed. The people who can’t understand that are so stupid it amazes me that they even have jobs.
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He used to come to the MIT Science Fiction Society Picnic in May. In fact, by tradition, he picked the date - and it never rained on the day he picked. I got to go to the last one he attended, before he fled to New York due to his divorce.
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