Now that the Christmas holidays are behind us, I thought I would comment a bit on the over-blown controversy regarding the public display of nativity scenes and other religious items during what some prefer to call the "Holiday Season", in the hopes that next year, we can all respect and enjoy each other's beliefs and customs.

First, I most certainly believe in the separation of church and state. Without it, there have been times in our country's history when, I believe, I would have been kept from practising my Roman Catholic faith. But separation does not mean, to me anyway, that the government cannot allow us to learn from one another on public property. In fact, by not allowing all religions to display items at their special times of year, the government would be keeping us from learning about each other. And that is detrimental to society as a whole.

Second, I also believe that having fun is a good thing. I think it is positive for the the government to, on occasion, promote things that are fun. And, Christmas displays are, quite often, fun.

Third, as to the actual issue of whether or not such displays should appear on public property, I say, "Why not?" As long as the city, state or other government entity also pays for (or simply allows)displays of Hannukah, Kwaanza, Ramandan and/or whatever Buddhists, Hindus or other serious religions celebrate at their special times of year. This can be done even if such celebrations overlap. The government  entity can simply set aside a public area for such displays, set up the rules to ensure some degree of order, and put up, or allow the public to place, items that celebrate the particular holiday in  question. What is important is that each religion receive equal treatment by the government entity. If it pays for a Christian display, it must pay for other religions. If it allows private parties to pay for holiday displays on public property, it must do the same for holidays of all religions. In short, as long as everyone is treated equally, let's all just simmer down and have a good time!

The idea would be to learn about and from each other. This promotes a neighborly attitude towards our fellow citizens and, therefore, is a positive thing.

We often hear about how other people of non-Christian religions feel bad about the constant Christmas cheer, etc. But I see no reason we cannot all have a nice Birthday Party for Jesus and celebrate  together.

I know that Moslems believe that Jesus was a prophet. Some Jews believe the same. I once knew a Buddhist that celebrated Christmas. I asked her how she could do that, since she was not a Christian. She told me that she believed the story of Christ, she just does not accept that there is only one god. So, Jesus just sort of got added to her list of gods. While some Christians might be offended at that, I choose to respect her beliefs. I also chose to celebrate with her the birth of Jesus. We always had a great time together at the office Christmas party. By the way, she owned the business. And she paid for and gave wonderful parties every year which she called the "Christmas party".

I once knew an atheist who celebrated Christmas because he said that Christ was the world's greatest philosopher. That the teachings of Jesus were worth living, and, therefore, His birth was worth celebrating, and His death worth mourning. My friend, simply did not beleive in any kind of God. But he was more of a Christian than many people who attend church every Sunday.

What is Christmas, really? It is, quite simply, the day set aside, even though it is probably not the ACTUAL day, it is the day decided on, to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Since we do not know the ACTUAL day, December 25th is as good a day as any to celebrate.

When I was in first grade, my teacher, a nun, told us why we give gifts at Christmas. She said we give a gift to someone because we cannot give a material one to Jesus. The person we give the gift to represents Jesus for us. And when we accept a gift at Christmas, we are accepting for Him. That is why every gift you give must be carefully chosen, and every gift you receive must be accepted graciously.

So...

If you are a Moslem, celebrate the birth of a prophet.
If you are a Jew, do the same, and find, you have something in common with your Islamic brother.
If you are a Buddhist, celebrate the birth of a god.
Some Hindus can do the same.
If you are an athiest or an agnostic, celebrate the birth of a wonderful philosopher, a man whose
ideas changed the world.

As for me, I am a Roman Catholic. I will celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior. I hope you will come to the most important birthday party of the year, and have the best time ever!

I also hope you will respect me when I say "MERRY CHRISTMAS!", and I will respect you whether return it or say, "Happy Holidays".

I am a Republican, and you have my vote, on your holiday beliefs. Non belief and belief, are both, beliefs. Cross one out, then, you must, also cross out the other. Where is TOLERATION?:)

10-2007-I kill all day long, when, a person, gets the Holy Ghost, to abate my servants, that was new jerusalem said hollie, glass city, I, kill all day long to make you backslide, teasing, stripping heart of all desire to live for me, letting gums be destroyed, by fiery darts, deseasing, entering into heart, stripping, bringing wrath, hate, carressing dick, with electricty, messing with all day, till the person backslides, then, I have to stop, I, strengthen, then do it all over, again, till they leave, for years, then if I miss I call back, I the Lord, give this prophet to choices, leave or be driven out, killed all day long, he has not done any thing, wrong, God says, said hollie, I, dont need anybody, but, if, they serve, I want them abated in my eyes, I will drive them out, all day, till they wont come back, then, I put new hearts in, draw again, ill, start killing again, moments later, I the Lord, take my servants teeth to abate them, make them want to die, cause I tempt them, carressing dick, with electricty, entering into heart, stripping out, all desire, to live for me, deseasing gums, to abate, this is killing all day long, me, driving, them, out, all day, while they weep, before me, paul sought to get removed, but, I killed all day long, have the keys to hell and death, making them hate me, by torturing, if they fast and pray, I, laugh, cause, they, waste thier time, God says, you can make me, put you in lava, said, hollie, earlier, then, if, not served, this is what peter spoke about, it would have been better if they had not known, killing all day long is God tempting to sin, and if they do, cut off, showed, Jesus, and, I made them hate me, I want you to not have teeth, to embarras you, make you sin, in front of those you witnessed to, to embarras, people lost will see, I will kill them all day long, know they couldnt be saved anyway, only a few survive, I want people in lava to abate, God will persecute his children to tempt them to sin, till they leave

realtone jukebo ringtone tones convert ringtone to polyphonic mp3 sanyo ringer make ringtones midi t mobile ringtones for dash ring phone sound effect cell nextel tones lg cellphone ringtones treo palm ringtones midi for put on ringtones nextel ringers t fi mobile hi ring cell tones phone nextel ringtones from websites ringtone ringtone polyphonic ctu spree polyphonic ringtones mobile dash t ringers tone wav touch mp3s tones ring turn into wav files to ringtones Saturday, January 5th 2008 @ 2:03 AM