Charlie Brown Christmas Show Causes Church and State Controversy

A Message to The Freethinkers of Arkansas Introduction This seems to be the time of year, outside of the madness that is called commercialism, where the bulk of Americans can in their own way reflect and contemplate the message of the holidays. Some choose the time to vacation to warmer areas while others, given the region they reside in, enjoy the %u201CWhite Christmas%u201D and the magical change of season that it would seem to carry. Some families find the time to drive great distances to be with loved ones and there are those that may be fortunate enough to return from overseas as a reprieve to existing in very austere environments. There are those of us who are fortunate to have families, even with common dynamics and the unfortunate ones who only know poverty and broken homes or in the worst of cases have no homes. Regardless, it gives many a chance to reflect on what The Season is and why it exists in this moment of time. The many %u201CZeitgeist%u201D theories and beliefs many in the skeptical movement have shown a complete disregard for what most consider a premise of their chosen faith. The people who adhere to your beliefs have every right to do so; this is a free country. However, your militant approach to seeking every cause for a %u201Cfree society%u201D scrubbed of all religious matters does nothing but create disdain for your movement, and on the other hand intimidates those with good will through the use of law and courts. In an age when violence and disregard for human life is extreme and furthermore in an area which was the inspiration for a documentary on gang violence, that was worse per capital than that found in larger inner cities, you find that all that is wrong with society is a Charlie Brown play at a local church. What are self evident truths to some of us, seem to completely escape the ideology and policies you would press to into the void created by removing faith based morality or even the possibility that it even exists. You would have us believe that this slight of a school was to be noticed by the many offended and not one who subscribes to the small minority of %u201Cskeptical thinkers%u201D in the area. And yet it is the belief that they can encroach on others joy and seasonal happiness. I wish to say now that it is not my attention to attack a person, or a group of people for their particular views. I will not do that, but I will address those views as I see as a growing trend to silence a very huge part of our culture, not only in this Nation but with the very area we live in. If there is personal offense taken, then examine why such an address of the matter is warranted. There are many other Free Thinkers who suggests things affronting to my faith and values yet I know it is against my beliefs and not who I am as a person. It is my goal to dialogue in the same manner. The Issue The issue, which is becoming more common during this time of year especially, is always centered around matters of faith: a cross on a roadway, a fifty year old statue of Christ at a veteran%u2019s cemetery (paid for through private funding no less) and now the most horrible notion of young children watching a Charlie Brown play with a Christmas theme at a local church. It seems to begin the same way: an anonymous person was so offended by such an abomination of their 1st Amendment rights that they approached a small minority of Free Thinkers that before they nothing to do with or never known about for legal assistance. Are we to believe that this had never happened before? That the culmination of reason and science all of the sudden makes it clear to the enlightened that Charlie Brown celebrating a holiday in its intended form, is now archaic and outdated or will leave a citizen feeling like an outcast? Are we to believe that our democracy, and our public school system is so theocratic that they would chastise a parent and their child for refusing something as horrendous as a Christmas play? Dare I say that the local Free Thinker challenge of the issue is one of opportunity? Anne Orsi, with the great education you posses, there is an understanding of the written code and what its true purpose is, but like many other students of jurisprudence, your agenda comes before the original meaning of the law. Are we to accept that you are unbiased, when it is you who are the Vice President of the local Free Thinker organization? We also must know the history of the law as well. The greatest thinkers, luminaries all, sat among themselves, many of different faiths and set upon making a social contract that would create the greatest common good for the greatest number. The recent history they knew was filled with those that would hail the Divine Right of Kings notion and then of course would state %u201Cwhatever pleases the law, pleases the prince.%u201D The rejection of this manner of ruling and tyranny had to end so than many of different faiths could sit at the table without the notion that a certain religion would dominate over the others. In all of my ignorance, I can be fairly certain that our Founders were not as concerned with children taking a day off to watch an innocent play as they were a king deciding who should burn at the stake for a particular heresy against a state mandated religion. Also, I can say with good faith, that it was and is not the intention of the church to proselytize the children over their parents wishes. Mrs. Orsi, with all of the transgression of liberty and justice in our lands, you call on your many years of good study to pursue this and I am disappointed in not more of a loss of confidence for those in your profession. How often must we see the expenditure of good knowledge of the law used on such frivolous lawsuits? I suppose it can be assumed that an atheist attorney believes that law came about from evolution and centuries of wrong action and thought before man was able to decide upon some natural law which they could adhere to, for in fact it was a very natural law that the Founders appealed to when authoring this social contract which now guides us. You call the church%u2019s good intentions of inviting children to a plat as an %u201Calliance%u201D and that they %u201C..clearly over stepped their bounds..%u201D Do you have children or relatives in this school? Have you taken part in the education of youth in the city? Have you volunteered your time outside of preaching the doctrines of Darwin and Hawkins? If you get your wish, what do you plan to do with that void that was allotted for cheerful fun and I might add a bit of charity on the part of the church? The Solution One should never present a problem without also presenting a solution that can be debated for after all our Founders did this with their many different faiths, or in the case of Thomas Paine, hardly any at all. First: drop the charges and frivolous lawsuit against the school and the church. I can assumed that in this economy they are short of funding or donations and lack the resources to hire legal assistance which in turn is a common tactic of many atheists who sue. No apology would be needed on your part; we are speaking of a church and in its best design would not, openly at least, hold bad feelings towards you. Second: If you beliefs are so important that you would spend the time and energy to take a small denomination to court over a smaller issue, then ask for a public forum or debate in which the best of both atheist and theist in the area may dialogue what they believe. Is this not civility in it purest form? Conclusion With the state of our Nation and our world we find a very odd predicament. Homes and families are broken more than ever. Drugs and promiscuity fill every void created by either some ignorance of morality or the ill defined reasoning to pursue instant gratification in the first place. Raising lack of employment along with idleness leads many to embrace this lifestyle of complete disregard for law, for which I might add is nothing more than and ordinance of reason. And it is reason that we must appeal, for what is a society have if not for faith and morality. What can the skeptics give that would replace it in this moment and not some %u201Cevolutionary agenda%u201D that will take another eon to form into the desired utopia?

Increasingly I dont recognize Arkansas when I return for visits. The state has become infested with these liberal idiots. Michael Savage is right. Liberalism is a Mental Disorder. BTW She belongs to a group calling themselves Society of Free Thinkers of Arkansas. I can garrantee "Free Thinking" is not what they seek or even believe in. You think just like they do or else!

Liberals don't give a [censored] about the rights of others!!! They only care about their own! Take take Take!!! Liberals are the killers of babies, rights, and the constitution. Liberals Suck!!!!