Dec 15, 2011
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The superintendent of a public school district in Arkansas said it’s time for Christians to take a stand and that’s why he’s decided to reinstate a Nativity scene – in spite of possible legal action.
“Enough is enough,” said Jerry Noble, superintendent of the Green County Tech school district. “It’s His birthday. We celebrate Jesus’ birthday. One person should not be offended by that. We don’t leave it up all year. We’re not promoting religion. It’s not an effort to convert anybody.”
Noble told Fox News & Commentary the controversy surrounds a Nativity scene on a bulletin board at Green County Tech Primary School. The bulletin board also included the words, “Happy Birthday, Jesus.”
Noble said they had received some complaints about the decorations and after consulting with an attorney, he decided to remove the Nativity.
“My personal belief is that we should fight this sort of thing, but I didn’t want to put the school district at risk,” he said. “I could not take it upon myself to get the school in a legal entanglement over separation of church and state because we would have to use tax dollars to fight it and that’s not my job to do that.”
Nativity Bulletin Board - photo by KUAR
But his decision sparked a massive outcry in the community – and one organization offered to cover any legal costs the school system might incur over a lawsuit. That offer helped change the superintendent’s mind.
“To be honest with you, we offended a lot more people by taking it down than leaving it up,” Noble said. “So we put it back up.”
Noble, who is a Christian, said he doesn’t understand why anyone would be offended by the Nativity.
“Personally, I’m a Christian and if I’m going to offend somebody, I’d rather offend the non-believer – if it’s legal to do so,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas said told radio station KUAR that the school district must obey the Constitution.
“To say that if you have to offend somebody you’d rather offend those in the minority, well that’s just what the Constitution and the First Amendment are all about – not offending the minority, standing up for everybody’s right to practice their religion whether there is one person in your town or a thousand,” ACLU Director Rita Sklar told KUAR. “That the superintendent and perhaps others don’t have respect for that, I think is very sad.”
The Nativity scene was erected by Kay Williams, a counselor at the primary school. She’s been doing it for more than 20 years without any hint of controversy.
“We do live in the Bible Belt,” Williams told the Paragould Daily Press. “One thing that really disturbed most of [the supporters] was we hear about things like this all the time in other parts of the country. But, this is kind of a first for the Bible Belt, here in Arkansas.”
That, Williams told the newspaper, is why they decided to take a stand.
“I think the people realized [this issue] is here and we better take a stand,” she told the newspaper.
Noble said the community support and the offer for free legal services led to his decision to allow the Nativity back into the primary school.
“The Christians in America have been silent for too long,” Noble said. “That’s why I struggled with it in the beginning.”
FOX News Talk
Nothing in the Constitution say you have a right not to be offended.
That's not what this is about, Jerry. It's about the government employees promoting a particular religious viewpoint in violation of the 1st and 14th amendments.
Erik Jensen How does the 14th Amendment apply to this situation, except that some anti-Christians are trying to deprive Christians of equal protection under the law. As has been pointed out several times already, the 1st Amendment actually works against your argument in that it prohibits any law that impedes the free exercise of religion. It doesn't make specific exceptions for school district superintendants or any one else.
Give this man a raise, if for nothing else, reminding the rest of us to have some guts and say enough is enough. People quoting the Constitution to argue this should actually read the Constitution and not just use it as an arguing point with no basis. If you object to the nativity being displayed, hope you aren't planning on celebrating Christmas..look up the explanation of the holiday….celebration of the birth of Christ!
Merry Christmas
and a happy 2,012 years of Christ.
In 1980, William Murray was baptized at a Baptist church in Dallas, where he took up work as a preacher. This led to a permanent estrangement between mother and son. As she put it, "One could call this a postnatal abortion on the part of a mother, I guess; I repudiate him entirely and completely for now and all times…he is beyond human forgiveness."[24].
Murray spoke critically and regretfully of his mother after her disappearance, and characterized her social activism as being motivated by a love of hedonism and a need for dominance:
"When I was a young boy of ten or eleven years old she would come home and brag about spending the day in X-rated movie theaters in downtown Baltimore…. My mother’s whole life circulated around such things… It was love of power over people that finally caused not only her death, but the deaths of my brother and my daughter… My mother was an evil person… Not for removing prayer from America's schools… No, she was just evil. She stole huge amounts of money. She misused the trust of people. She cheated children out of their parents' inheritance. She cheated on her taxes and even stole from her own organizations. She once printed up phony stock certificates on her own printing press to try to take over another atheist publishing company….Regardless of how evil and lawless my mother was she did not deserve to die in the manner she did."[25].
Murray claimed his mother had illegally stashed "tens of millions" away.[2] He attempted to gain "guardianship" over his missing mother and brother's assets, declaring that they had stolen money, and said, "My brother had a tendency to fall for con games and con artists".[2].
Real Nice.
Had the Constitution truly intended the warped slant that the ACLU has tried to force upon the rest of us, the US government would never have allowed the Bible or Pilgrims Progress to be used in early American schools. In fact, those books, among many others, were standard fare for public education for many years until these unprincipled reprobates found enough other like-minded dimwits to push this on the American public.
Here's a nice little quote from a pretty influential guy, you may have heard of him. I wonder what his stance on nativity scenes would have been?
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."-George Washington.
Great article!!
Hey genius, why don't you tell us how many "other" religions were being practised in America when they wrote these great articles you are quoting. Had they known 200+ years later that morons like you would be miss-interprtating what they wrote, they would have added a few more pages. The whole matter was freedom from the oppression that they fled from in England, where the Catholics had taken over an undue influence on the government. The laws we have were writen to keep one denomination from rising to political power. You know like the babtists, or Methodist, or Catholics. They had no idea that 200 years later people would argue that non-Judeo/Christian "Religions" would even be concidered. They were still burning witches at the stake back then – So who doesn't know what they are talking about? all you lefties just make this stuff up and twist it all around backwards – but then again, isn't that the definition of wickedness/evil is – the twisting of the Truth.
I say leave it up. If it is so offensive to people of other faiths then put up a menorah somewhere and a kwanza sign. Instead of parents being outraged, they should take the time to discuss it with their children. No time like the present to teach them how to respect all faiths. I am studying to be a teacher but with all of this politically correct hooblah I am really reconsidering if this is the type of career I want to be in… I love kids but I am so over the idea of losing my job or causing a shit storm if a child somehow sees me pray over my meal or reading my Bible during my break…
Maybe I'm wrong, but aren't the tax payers paying for these schools? The money to build them, run them, etc doesn't come out of the air, nor does it grow on trees. So actually, the tax payers really own them. Tax payers vote on referendums whether they want their taxes raised in order to fund something.
the school district wants.
As far as the constitution goes, no there is no 'separation of church and state' clause. That is just a metaphor that blurs the distinction between a doctrinal religion and a denominational religion.
The pilgrims left Europe and came here because of persecution and oppression by the Church of England, the Anglican Church which became the state church and with this alliance it gave more power to the church and the state to control the people.
Persecution and oppression are inherently evil and can come from any organization with power.
The establishment clause was included in the constitution to prevent a denominational religion from becoming the state religion not the doctrinal religion of Christian Theism.
The pilgrims feared a state denominational church based upon the European history.
The constitutional restrictions are meant to prevent our government from making a.
denominational religion the state church. The oppression that Christian Theism is going.
through now is the same evil that the establishment clause was intended to prevent.
Louis Lipschitz · Honolulu, Hawaii.
Last time I checked December 25th, the traditionally recognized birth of Christ the world over, is the only Federally recognized religious holiday in the U.S. So how is pretending to ignore that Christmas is one of the two most important religious holidays in Christianity, violating the Constitution? Freedom of Religion does not mean negation of religion. What would the founding fathers say if someone tried to cancel their Christmas vacation? Culturally Christianity is the Defacto religion of Western Civilization and hence the U.S. Federal Government, why else would it be the only federally recognized religious holiday in our calender or should we just cancel Christmas, so some people can feel good?
"The Christians have been silent too long" is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Enough with playing the victim. Why is separation of church and state so hard for them to understand? Put up a nativity scene in your yard, no one will care, but not on public grounds.
Praise God for men of faith & courage!
THANK YOU for standing up for what is right! Leave the nativity! I am so tired of the first amendment being taken out of context and used as a way for the ACLU to try to eliminate Christmas. What the heck do the idiots in the ACLU think that they are getting time off of work for in December? It damn sure isn't Kwanza!
I defy anyone, ANYONE to show where in the first amendment, or in any of the 12 amendments known as the bill of rights where it says you have the right to not be offended. The fact is, freedom of speech cannot exist without the freedom to offend! Anytime you are stifled from speaking out for fear of offending someone or some group, you have lost that freedom.
May God bless and keep us all in this time of tribulation.
http://realismamerica.blogspot.com/2011/12/is-keeping-faith-in-our-lord-savior.html
Please send this to every Christian you know.
I would like all of you to join me there in support of and to make certain it stays up. We can not say to fight and let that merely be words. We need to let the world see that Christians will not be repressed again. I would like to be there on the 20th and stay until Christmas Eve to make certain it stays up without vandalism. If you can join me, reach me through the blog. If not and God lays it on your heart to help with the trip, then please donate through the blog. If we do not start taking a stand now, evil will abolish Christianity. We can not just simply "talk" about it any longer. We need to take action and support Mr. Noble and the good fight.
May God bless and keep us all in this time of tribulation.
http://realismamerica.blogspot.com/2011/12/is-keeping-faith-in-our-lord-savior.html
Please send this to every Christian you know.
I would like all of you to join me there in support of and to make certain it stays up. We can not say to fight and let that merely be words. We need to let the world see that Christians will not be repressed again. I would like to be there on the 20th and stay until Christmas Eve to make certain it stays up without vandalism. If you can join me, reach me through the blog. If not and God lays it on your heart to help with the trip, then please donate through the blog. If we do not start taking a stand now, evil will abolish Christianity. We can not just simply "talk" about it any longer. We need to take action and support Mr. Noble and the good fight.
Why is this such a "Hot" topic that stirs such emotional outcry? Could it be because there is something to it? It's the story of God reaching out to man, and you anti-religion anti God posters are bothered by the very existence of it because your heart is in rebellion against God and you know it. Why don't you humble yourself, and pray and seek God's face, as the Bible says?
Well, God bless Jerry Noble!
Leave it up. Here we go again, the Constitution vs. the Nativity. Separation of church and state. Wow, how much more can we take of this crap. It does not matter WHAT your beliefs are it matters that ALL are allowed to believe them. Celebrate what you want, when you want, how you want and just SHUT UP about how offended you are by the Nativity, the singing of "Silent Night", or anything else you can come up with that gets your panties in a wad this time of year. The War on Christmas is just a big load of crap. Chill out and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Christmas is not the real issue here. It's Jesus. HE has always been the "issue" and we as Christians can take a stand peacefully or we can just ignore Him and HE will ignore us before HIS Father. The detrimental effects of Christians ignoring Jesus through out our generations has proven itself daily in our news; schools and society already. Taking a stand does NOT mean violence. It means speaking up for what is right in the eyes of G-d before mankind.
Amen!!!
Greene County Tech was my high school, and I am so proud of them for standing up for what's right. It's time to stop letting the "few" run over and try to rule everyone else. Is having witches up at Halloween trying to convert kids to be a witch? Isn't having nothing up supporting the atheist "religion"?
Leave the nativity up! That is the reason for Christmas in the first place. You have my support. Thank you GCT and Mr. Noble!
Greene County Tech was my high school, and I am so proud of them for standing up for what's right. It's time to stop letting the "few" run over and try to rule everyone else. Is having witches up at Halloween trying to convert kids to be a witch? Isn't having nothing up supporting the atheist "religion"?
Leave the nativity up! That is the reason for Christmas in the first place. You have my support. Thank you GCT and Mr. Noble!
one nation under God indivisible………
I stand with Jerry Noble and all the people in Arkansas. I am sick and tired of the ACLU and atheists trying to take away Christain religious rights! I applaud everyone of you willing to take a stand in Arkansas!
Guess some of you you missed the debate last night, the courts have been for decades, check it out. Besides if you all think about it the Christians have been kicked to the curb in an accellerated effort by the anti- releigon folks since November the 4th 2008.
It's Freedom OF religion NOT FROM religion!
How sad when a country that calls itself Christian, can no longer put up displays portraying a holiday they are celebrating, for fear of "offending" someone that doesn't believe. Since when is it offensive to see a display that someone of another faith puts up to honor what they believe? I think that Christians should have the same right that other faiths are demanding. If the ACLU believes in "standing up for EVERYBODY'S right to practice their religion whether there is one person in your town or a thousand,” than why when it comes to the Christian faith, do they demand all displays be taken down?
You can put up all the displays you want, provided it is on your own land or in an open forum where other views are allowed. Santa Monica, CA has just such a constitutional display. Everyone has equal rights. Christians do not have special rights to exclusive ownership of government resources.
Erik Jensen Who says Christians have special rights? Put your displays up, but don't make us take all of ours down. Where is our freedom? Oh yeah, we shouldn't have any.
Erik Jensen Who says Christians have special rights? Put your displays up, but don't make us take all of ours down. Where is our freedom? Oh yeah, we shouldn't have any.
The ACLU hasn't been right in decades; it all about making the majority eat the trash of the minority. The ACLU doesn't understand the word establish. The first amendment declares that the Federal government can not, must not establish a national religion or religious practice when in fact the universities of this nation that take billions of dollars from the Federal gov't. do that every day of the week. Who stands for the rights of those Christian students in the minority on hundreds of campi? It sure ain't the ACLU which should be the case IF they were consistent. The ACLU is the leading anti-Christian org. in the nation, where is the tolerance you all screem about, hmmmmm?
Good for the school, community, and the counselor! Amen Mr. Stump!
Mike, you are inventing your own facts. I believe that one of the ten commandments is against bearing false witness, which you have just done against the ACLU. The ACLU has defended the rights of Christians in numerous cases:
http://www.aclu.org/aclu-defense-religious-practice-and-expression
The only times the ACLU is "anti-Christian" (your words) is when they prevent the government (not private citizens) from acting as a sectarian agent.
I completely agree with Principle Noble and wish that a lot more christians would take a stand as well. There would not be CHRISTmas without JESUS. Good job principle Noble and all those who are helping him take this stand.
We sure do have alot of ignorant people in this world. Jesus, please help us–this is Your birthday, and so many stupid and ignorant people want to take Your celebration away. It is TIME that we stood against this stupidity and take back this country from those that despise our Creator, from Whom we have received ALL of our blessings! I applaud this decision to put the nativity scene back–it should never have been taken down to start with, and ACLU–SHUT YOUR TRAP!
Good for you. This is the season we celebrate Jesus Birthday. We should celebrate all holidays instead of making holidays neutral.
Good for you. This is the season we celebrate Jesus Birthday. We should celebrate all holidays instead of making holidays neutral.
What a great example to set for children: so long as you have the money to pay for the lawyers, f*ck the law, f*ck the Constitution, just do whatever the heck you want. Christian supremacism is a form of bullying and it has no place in a public school–keep that sh*t in your da*n churches where it belongs!
What a great example to set for children: so long as you have the money to pay for the lawyers, f*ck the law, f*ck the Constitution, just do whatever the heck you want. Christian supremacism is a form of bullying and it has no place in a public school–keep that sh*t in your da*n churches where it belongs!
This is what truly bothers me. Christians are so busy tucking their tails and running away from the mere hint of offending non-Christians that they fail to recognize how their own rights are being compromised. Everyone is so scared of offending the one, two or ten people in a school district who decide that they can't stomach the idea of GOD so they by golly won't allow anyone else their Constitutionally protected right to worship, that they in fact are OFFENDING the Christian population in return. All we have to do is turn right back around and counter sue the people whose fragile sensibilites or (desire for a quick and easy civil paycheck) broached the subject of being "offended" by the nativity in the first place! I will ALWAYS pray to God and if I feel so compelled to do so out loud then I will do that as well, and I DARE anyone to tell me that I offended them or sue me because they will truly be opening a can of worms that cannot be contained. I will sue them back for attempting to repress my freedom of religion, which by no means attempts to convert or teach, but only to satisfy ME morally. So grow up people. Go feed your kids and make your mortgage payments and quit worrying about what OTHER people are doing in terms of their religious creed. Worry about yourselves and leave peaceful Christians alone!
If you celebrate a holiday for one religion you should do so for all. I have no problem with a school that would put up a display for each of the religions followed by the people of the United States.
Many that first agree with me latter change there mind as they only want to have something for one or two religions. Buddist, Hindu, Muslim, Morman, Jewish you still with me?
All religions or no religion. A nativity is ok at Christmas, but everyone else gets their symbols out there, also.
It`s about time Christians took a stand! All I got to say to this , is stand proud and tall! In all to many places Muslims are allowed prayer rooms in schools, they are given the right to expound upon the joys of Islam.Wherein nothing negative is allowed to be noted upon.In all to many schools, they have our children all year to slam their Christianity.We as Christians are not a minority in this country.We as Christians in this country are certianly not in hiding at the risk of death for being Christians.And, maybe therein lies our problem.If we`r to wishy washy to take a stand for our Christian traditions in this country, we are no longer salt or light to this Great Nation, or a future hope to our children.We are not a minority, yet we fill churches wherein the Koran and the Bible sit side by side.Or where an Egyptian god can be worshipped side by side with our GOD.Have we so easily forgotten that our God said HE is a jealous God and we were to have no other gods before Him.And I would suspect the same could be said, along side HIM.Have we forgotten that in this Nation, the many schools that were begun by Christians for the betterment of society.I find only one joy in this battle Atheists have taken upon themselves, and that is that they are fighting so hard against a God they don`t believe in.That some have begun to question , and convert.
Didn't all schools used to meet in a Church, open with prayer, and have Christmas programs, and an hour devoted to Bible study? Oh that we had never changed these things!
Hey, Obama picks and chooses the laws he decides to follow. Can anybody say DOMA? Good for Noble. It's time Christians stand up. Libs do it all the time without impunity. God bless you , Mr. Noble. America is behind you…..
I would first like to say Thank You to all the Christians for standing up and standing together. Now let me help with the support of the Nativity Scene. First lets establish the fact that history, archeology, and facts all show Jesus was a real person. If you ask the Jewish people they will tell you that he was a real person, so no atheist or any other can get mad or offended about a Nativity scene because if they don't believe in Christ as the Messiah or Savior that fine but everyone needs to know that at bare minimum a Nativity Scene is a Happy Birthday. There are no laws against supporting and wishing people a Happy Birthday. So when I say Happy BIrthday Jesus, or Merry Christmas if anyone takes that offensively that is a personal problem not a social, and not a religious problem.So Technically there are no constitutional or legal actions that can b e taken. Ha that's what learning law can do for us. Merry Christmas Happy Birthday Jesus and you atheists don't have a legal leg to stand on. Oh and just so everybody know laws are MADE BY THE MAJORITY that's how they become laws is with a majority vote and that is also how we AMEND the Constitution so don't let people tell you that we should be bullied by atheists or anyone else because We The People can make and change the laws to help protect us. God Bless Us All.
I would first like to say Thank You to all the Christians for standing up and standing together. Now let me help with the support of the Nativity Scene. First lets establish the fact that history, archeology, and facts all show Jesus was a real person. If you ask the Jewish people they will tell you that he was a real person, so no atheist or any other can get mad or offended about a Nativity scene because if they don't believe in Christ as the Messiah or Savior that fine but everyone needs to know that at bare minimum a Nativity Scene is a Happy Birthday. There are no laws against supporting and wishing people a Happy Birthday. So when I say Happy BIrthday Jesus, or Merry Christmas if anyone takes that offensively that is a personal problem not a social, and not a religious problem.So Technically there are no constitutional or legal actions that can b e taken. Ha that's what learning law can do for us. Merry Christmas Happy Birthday Jesus and you atheists don't have a legal leg to stand on. Oh and just so everybody know laws are MADE BY THE MAJORITY that's how they become laws is with a majority vote and that is also how we AMEND the Constitution so don't let people tell you that we should be bullied by atheists or anyone else because We The People can make and change the laws to help protect us. God Bless Us All.
Would someone please show me the exact place in the Constitution where it states the separation of church and state. Not an interpretation or what you believe it says, but the exact amendment, paragraph, sentence.
Good for you! It is about time this hapens. The poster does not promote religion, is not asking anyone to go to church or become religious-its a time of celebration of an individual's birth. We celebrate other historical births from our history-many presidents as well as Martin Luther King Jr. This is part of our Americal heritage and culture and we live in America.
Christmas is about the birth of Jesus the Christ. We as Christians celebrate that and the Government has recognized his celebrated birthday as a National holiday. It is celebrated around the world. If you do not agree with the celebration, do not join in. Go to work that day and do not participate in any of the activities. Otherwise, please allow us to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Thank you.
AMEN- Christians need to take a stand! Ther are far more of us than not. Thank you!
Awesome stand, Jerry Noble and the Green County Tech School District! You are to be commended! God will bless you and yours for taking this stand. We all need to have the same courage. I encourage you to never give up.
Time to make a stand across America and stop letting the small minority dictate what the majority can or cant do. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
Didn't read whole story yet but that is awesome!
One day even the members of the civil liberties union will bow to our Lord and Savior and proclaim Him Lord of all! That will be an awesome site!
I can't wait til Jesus comes back so that I don't have to read this garbage of people crying that a Nativity scene is offending a certain person. Go cry me a river, the devil's just working through you and you want attention! I guess people have a right to worship whoever, but at the end Jesus is the only one! All the others will be wrong. Stay strong Christians……keep spreading the good news!
Finally some people with the stones to stand up and take Christmas back from all the "Holiday" jackasses!
shut up where are my wrights as a christian, one who beleives in JESUS ,,, I THINK YOU NEED TO INFO ON THE MULIMS THEY HAVE MORE WRIGHTS THAN WE THEY CAN PRAY IN SHOOL WE CAN, T WHERE IS ARE WRIGHTS ,, SOME DAY YOU MAY WAKE UP AND FIND THAT WE LOST MORE FREEDOME THAN WE WANTED TO LOSE,,, MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON ALL OF US ,,
Yes..religion or whatever your spiritual preferences are/or might be is and continues to be our constitutional right. That my dear friends is why we sought for a new life away from the Church of England! We didn't want to be told which religion we had to be a part of. Therefore our forefathers, mainly James Madison, would sponsor several amendments that were ultimately combined into the First Amendment. The Establishment Clause is the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating,
“ Congress shall make no law respecting an (one) establishment of religion.
My dear brothers and sisters…what are you the minority so afraid of? Do not align yourselves with fear.
Choose Love and Enlightment as Jesus, the Son of God lived his Life as an example for us to witness as other Masters did also.
Love & Light.
Namaste!