http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/atheists-hijack-christmas-
nativity-display-in-santa-monica-critics-say.html?track=lat-pick
Organizers of Santa Monica's well-known Christmas Nativity scene at
Palisades Park are accusing atheists of "hijacking" the tradition.
Atheist groups objected to use of the park by churches to espouse a
religious message and applied to the city of Santa Monica for their own
spaces.
Officials used a lottery to dole out spots in the prime location along
Ocean Avenue. The atheists turned out to be the lucky ones: Of the 21
plots in the park open for displays, they won 18. The Nativity story that
once took 14 displays to tell — from the Annunciation, continuing to the
manger in Bethlehem and onto infant Jesus' journey to Egypt and back to
Nazareth — had to be abridged to three and crammed into two plots.
PHOTOS: Battle over Christmas displays
"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.
Jameson said he intends to keep the Nativity tradition many have enjoyed
since 1953 from being displaced. Palisades Park, he said, is the "historic
home where it really belongs."
"Their goal is getting rid of us, and squelching our 1st Amendment
rights," said Jameson, 65, who no longer lives in Santa Monica but still
worships at Lighthouse Church of Santa Monica.
Patrick Elliott, a lawyer for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said
tradition is no excuse for violating the boundaries between church and
state. "Just because they're long-standing doesn't mean they're right," he
said.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation,
said December is a busy time for the organization's attorneys, who
challenge the use of public spaces for religious messages.
"It's littering — literally, littering — these spaces," Gaylor said of
such displays, which she said are a "territorial attempt by Christians to
impose their beliefs in this season."
"That creates an atmosphere of intimidation," said Gaylor, who noted that
the organization's banner was destroyed by vandals after being hung in
Palisades Park. "Christians are the insiders, and everyone else is an
outsider."
In Santa Monica, atheist Damon Vix called national organizations seeking
help because he felt marginalized by the display, and tradition alone
didn't merit saving it. Vix, a 43-year-old prop maker from Burbank, said
the display "defines Santa Monica as a Christian city, and I feel very
excluded by that."
Last year, he put up a display of his own: signs with quotes from Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln — quotes that his
opponents say are of dubious veracity. (It's worth noting that both sides
suspect the Founding Fathers would support them.)
Others have complained the atheists should at the very least come up with
something more than a sign attached to a chain-link cage, and use more of
the space they have been allotted. "I wish they had been more creative,"
one city councilman said.
The Rev. Keith Magee, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, said the atheists
have deprived a coalition of Christian faiths (Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic
and others) and the community (doctors, real estate agents and the Santa
Monica Police Assn. are among the sponsors) of a tradition that allowed so
many to come together to celebrate a belief so important to them.
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ruled by the black man, cracker!"
Eric Holder, prejudiced black United States Attorney General settles the
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York's million dollar tax evasion.
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