The Christian Gift

Here in New England, today is Patriots’ Day – commemorating the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord.

(You may recall from history class that those events, which took place on the morning of April 19, 1775, marked the beginning of the American Revolution.)

While observances have been taking place throughout the weekend, today kicks off in Lexington at 5:30am with a re-enactment at the Green, followed by a commemoration of the Battle at North Bridge in Concord at 8am (the “shot heard ’round the world”).

There will be parades in both towns later today, along with a variety of other actitivies.

Better known to people around the country is the big sporting event also associated with Patriots’ Day…the Boston Marathon.

Today’s 116th running of the race will no doubt be difficult for the runners with punishing record temperatures expected (87 degrees).

Even at those elevated temperatures, it won’t go into the record books. The hottest conditions for the race occured in 1976, when the mercury reached nearly 100 degrees.

If you think the talk lately about government intrusion on first ammendment religious freedom in this country is much ado about nothing, think again.

The creeping anti-Christianity movement is alive and well worldwide. The latest example comes courtesy of the British government, which is supporting employers who wish to ban employees from wearing crosses at work.

That’s right….if the government wins its case, people will no longer have the right to wear a cross on the job. This is freedom of religion?

You can’t make this stuff up.

The issue has ended up in the European Court of Human Rights following two long legal battles. The first involved a British Airways employee who was sent home and put on unpaid leave after she refused to remove her cross. (Interestingly, employees of other faiths have reportedly been allowed to wear religious items on the job without incident.) A year later, BA adjusted their policy and allowed this woman to return to work – but the airline declined to award her any back pay. She filed suit on the basis of religious discrimination, but lost. After the Supreme Court refused to hear her case, she took it to the ECHR.

The second situation involves a nurse who was told by the National Health Service that, though she’d worn a cross at work for some 30 years, she could no longer do so. A hearing ruled in favor of her employer’s ban on crosses at the workplace. (Oh, and by the way, the NHS uniform policy permits exemptions to other faiths when it comes to “religious clothing” – just don’t try to wear your Christian cross to work.)

Enter the European Court of Human Rights, and the British government’s brazen attempt to redefine freedom of religion as it makes its case in support of these and other employers.

Whether or not you’re a Christian, you should worry when you hear about something like this…and stand up against it. It’s a slippery slope when governments chip away at freedom.

Every once in a while a breaking news item is so surprising I do a double take just to make sure I read it correctly. That’s how I felt yesterday when I saw that Davy Jones had died of a massive heart attack at just 66 years of age.

Unbelievable. Sad.

I was eight years old when the Monkees first arrived in my living room. (Like a lot of little girls, I had a bit of a crush on Davy.) I never outgrew my affection for those great Monkees tunes - and had a fantastic time when, years later, I saw the band live in concert for one of their reunion tours. They did not disappoint.

Every so often, we’re reminded in a jarring way that tomorrow is promised to no one.

Yesterday was one of those days for me.

Thanks for the memories, Davy.

The all-to-familiar attacks on Christmas are  popping up again this year from sea to shining sea.

The latest report comes from a United States post office in Silver Spring, Maryland where carolers were told by a postal manager on Saturday that they were not allowed to sing on government property.

Todd Starnes reported the story, excerpted here:

“They were only a few notes into their carol when suddenly…I saw a scowling postal manager rushing to confront the carolers,” said JP Duffy, who was standing in line with his wife and two-year-old daughter.

Duffy, who also happens to be a staff member at the Family Research Council, says he was stunned by what happened next.

“He told them to leave immediately because they were violating the post office’s policy against solicitation, “Duffy said. “He told them they couldn’t do this on government property. He said, “You can’t go into Congress and sing and you can’t do it here, either.”

Starnes continues:

The carolers explained that they had been performing at businesses in the shopping center for several years – including the post office – and they’ve never encountered any problems. But the post office employee refused to budge and ordered them to leave.

Duffy said that customers standing in line began to boo the postal worker.

“Over the last several years, we have watched militant secularists team up with federal bureaucrats in the effort to sterilize the public square of anything remotely connected to anything religious,” Duffy said. “This postal manager has clearly received the memo which has led him to stamp out Christmas caroling.  But I have my own memo to all the Christmas carolers out there.  Let’s not surrender to the secularist version of Christmas future.”

Duffy suggested that the U.S. Post Office follow the advice of its founder – Benjamin Franklin.

“So shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas,” Franklin once wrote.

“This is good advice that the U.S. Post Office and all of us would do well to heed,” Duffy said.

Is this kind of thing going on in your town? Don’t be silent; make your opinion known. Separation of church and state has NOTHING to do with banishing religion from the town square, though many today would have you think that. Re-read the First Amendement to the Constitution and you’ll see that it does not advocate a secular government – nor is separating church from state ever mentioned.