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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Jay Sekulow :: Townhall.com Columnist
The ACLU Targets Christians
by Jay Sekulow
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The ACLU is at it again. With an outrageous boldness that only they could muster, the ACLU has once again set their sights on Christmas celebrations. In their never-ending quest to completely eradicate all things religious from public life, the ACLU’s latest lawsuit is an all-out frontal attack on the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. Let me ask you—when did a children’s Christmas program become “an illegal activity”? When did the nativity story and Christmas songs become unconstitutional? This is the outrageous and dangerous charge the ACLU has leveled against a school district in Tennessee. A children’s Christmas program has been deemed to be an “illegal act” because of the ACLU.

This week, our senior attorneys at the American Center for Law and Justice are working on this latest ACLU case. The ACLU is absolutely determined to censor Christmas. They have sued the Wilson County School System outside of Nashville, TN. We represent several school officials and teachers who have been charged with engaging in what the ACLU calls “illegal acts.” The ACLU claims that the plaintiffs have been harmed, injured and “suffered irreparable damage” through the Christmas program because of its “Christian themes and songs.” The ACLU will then ask for these actions be declared “unconstitutional and illegal.”

It gets even worse. The plaintiffs and the ACLU allege that several kindergarten students role-played a nativity scene of the birth of Jesus—and had the audacity to sing “Away in the Manger” and “Joy to the World.” According to the ACLU, these songs are exclusively Christian in nature because they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and are, therefore, inappropriate. School programs that include a live nativity scene and the singing of songs like “Away in a Manger” are common throughout the United States and, indeed, around the world. Thousands of school students will be participating in similar programs this year. The ACLU has, once again, shown its desire to engage in censorship.

Of course, if the ACLU wins this case, it would set a precedent from across the nation. This is precisely why we have engaged some of our most senior lawyers to defend school officials in this important case. Make no mistake about it—the ACLU will not stop with this lawsuit. They may come to your town and target your school. Their continued attempts to loosen the threads of our religious heritage and chip away at the foundation of our freedom is never-ending.

We, at the American Center for Law and Justice, will fight for religious freedom and freedom of speech this Christmas. We are standing with the school officials in Wilson County and with concerned students and parents. We will vigorously defend the rights of these students to engage in free speech on public school campuses. We are not going to sit back and let the ACLU, the Ghost of Christmas Past, remove the joy and significance of this holiday season.

The American Center for Law and Justice has launched a nationwide campaign entitled “Keep HIM in Christmas.” We want to make sure that Jesus is at the center of this holiday. We want to keep HIM in the nativity scenes, keep HIM in the music, keep HIM as the focal point—and not allow the ACLU to operate as our nationwide censor.

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About The Author

Jay Alan Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. Listen to his radio show, Jay Sekulow Live, on Townhall here. Learn more about the ACLJ at www.ACLJ.org

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Subject: AAsch, you have your facts wrong.
The vast majority of when and where the ACLU comments on a case where the Christian religion is somehow involved is almost ALWAYS against the faith. There is no possible way you can honestly see ALL of the cases they argue against the faith and possibly compare your dozens of examples against the hundreds of counter-examples supplied by those who know and appropriately loathe them. Also, how do you respond when other religions, on a regular basis, when experimented with in the public classroom, are completely answered with silence by the ACLU? Who made these idiots the final arbiter on what is and what is not allowed in the public domain anyway? Honestly, based upon their regular faith and practice of it in the public domain, would our Founding Fathers, if they were alive today, be on the ACLU's side, or would they think that this organization was completely insane and a threat to the very ideas on which this country was based? As Jesus said, "And ye shall know them (their purpose, reason for existence) by their fruits." What has the fruit of this organization been from it's very beggining? Finally, how in the world do you get an organization dedicated to the protection of ALL American's rights out of an organization who was begun by a bunch of communists, atheists, and humanists who's very purpose was to change the very landscape of this country from it's inception? The Red Cross, Alcoholics Annonymous, Boy Scouts, ect. are ALL examples of organizations begun long ago whose function and purpose remain unchanged to this very day. Is it not merely being consistent to argue that the same logically holds true for the ACLU? Simply put, the fact that they argue a smattering of pro-christian cases every once in a LONG while could simply be a ploy to mis-direct critism from them, although it is hardly a ploy that works, remember their founder's words? "We must at all times appear to be patriotic........"

ACLU Fights For Christians
Flacid Propaganda wrote:
"For those that didn't look at his website here's how he defines 'fighting for christians'"

Actually, there's no need for "Flacid Propaganda" to provide a false definition. I define my terms very clearly on my website. As I point out, in every example on my webpage, the ACLU is defending the right of a Christian to speak as a Christian or to practice Christianity.

Flacid Propaganda's pejorative descriptions and personal attacks cannot change the DOZENS OF FACTUAL CASES SHOWING THE ACLU FIGHTING FOR CHRISTIANS

If you're not sure whether to believe my TRUTH or someone else's "Flacid Propaganda," check out the FACTS on my webpage at:

http://ACLUFightsForChristians.com
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