December Dilemma Watch 2007

December Dilemma Watch 2007

Chabad’s Hanukkah Victory

posted by hrossi | 10:30am Monday December 10, 2007

For the first time in 20 years, the city of Pittsburgh held a menorah lighting in a public place, in front of the building that houses the Allegheny County government. According to Chabad-Lubavitch, the Hasidic Jewish group that erects menorahs in public places all over the world, the move represents “a new chapter in its sometimes stormy relationship with public menorah displays” in Pittsburgh.
In the late 1980s, a brouhaha erupted when Pittsburgh’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter sued, arguing that the menorah constituted a state sponsorship of religion. The case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the menorah could remain standing. But though the city did not take it down, they never lit it either – until this year, when a crowd of 200 people showed up for festivities that included the lighting, music, and sharing traditional Hanukkah latkes.



Previous Posts

All is Calm, All is Bright
As I bring this year's December Dilemma Watch to a close, I have to say that 2007 will not go down as a banner year in the history of the Christmas wars. There were no freedom-of-religion (or freedom-from-religion) lawsuits that grabbed national headlines, no flood of boycotts of major retailers be

posted 10:23:43am Dec. 24, 2007 | read full post »

No Christ in Christmas? Impossible!
Yesterday, CNN.com published this column by commentator Roland Wilson, in which he makes the argument that Americans should "return to traditional values, and end this ridiculous charade" of stripping Christmas of its religious meaning. To longtime observers of the December Dilemma, Wilson's essay a

posted 10:58:44am Dec. 21, 2007 | read full post »

Not Until His Birthday, Please
This week, at least 12 residents of Santa Clarita, California discovered something missing from the nativity scenes they had put up in their front yards--the baby Jesus. In place of the baby, according to Los Angeles' KNBC News, the thieves left a note that read, "Do not worry for baby Jesus is not

posted 10:30:24am Dec. 21, 2007 | read full post »

The Vatican's Nativity Switch
According to Catholic World News, the Vatican has changed its tradition of erecting a Nativity scene of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a manger in Bethlehem, instead putting up a scene of the holy family in their home in Nazareth. The Vatican has put up a creche since Pope John Paul II instituted the t

posted 10:00:08am Dec. 21, 2007 | read full post »

Mike Huckabee's Christmas Message
Gov. Mike Huckabee, the ordained Southern Baptist preacher who continues to rise in the Republican presidential primary polls, has a new ad out that aims directly for the pro-Christmas set. People shouldn't be bombarded during this time of year with political ads, Huckabee says while wearing a red

posted 10:35:00am Dec. 19, 2007 | read full post »

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