Happy Festivus!

[Susan Freiman]

So is the Messiah.  Unless he was the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as some say, in 
which case he's come and gone.

Susan

Will Linden wrote:
> "Remember, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice and Gurnenthar's 
> Ascendance are coming!" -- Magic Box, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>
>
>
> On Mon, 17 Dec 2007, Susan Freiman wrote:
>
>   
>> http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WI_FESTIVUS_NATIVITY_WIOL-?SITE=WIFON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
>> <http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WI_FESTIVUS_NATIVITY_WIOL-?SITE=WIFON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>
>>
>> Dec 16, 1:58 PM EST
>>
>> Festivus pole proposed at Green Bay City Hall
>>
>>
>> Advertisement
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- The putting up of a nativity scene at Green
>> Bay's City Hall has prompted a tongue-in-cheek request from a suburban
>> man for permission to display a Festivus pole on the overhang of the
>> building's northwest entrance.
>>
>> The Festivus holiday created by author Daniel O'Keefe during the 1970s
>> and popularized by comedian Jerry Seinfeld two decades later is
>> celebrated by some both in earnest and jest on Dec. 23.
>>
>> The request by Sean Ryan of Allouez was made during the weekend after
>> Green Bay City Council president Chad Fradette received the go-ahead
>> last week from the city's advisory committee to install a nativity
>> display at City Hall.
>>
>> Fradette said he proposed the display in response to criticism of a
>> nativity display at a city park in nearby Peshtigo.
>>
>> A practicing Catholic who would prefer to see no religious displays at
>> a government office, Ryan said his request to put up an undecorated six
>> foot aluminum pole was intended to showcase how deciding what religions
>> to include in the display can turn to the absurd.
>>
>> "I was turning over how extreme things could get and how loosely things
>> could get interpreted,
>>
>> " Ryan said.
>>
>> "The real feat of strength would be for the mayor to stand up and say
>> this is absurd," Ryan added. "Let us keep nativity scenes where they
>> belong in the churches, in our homes and in our hearts."
>>
>> On Friday, a Wiccan pentacle was put up at the Green Bay City Hall
>> consisting of an evergreen wreath encircling a gold five-pointed star.
>>
>> Wicca is a nature-based religion based on respect for the earth, nature
>> and the cycle of the seasons. But variations of the pentacle not
>> accepted by Wiccans have been used in horror movies as a sign of the
>> devil.
>>
>> Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt said items besides the nativity scene to be
>> displayed need to associated with a religion, and the Festivus pole is
>> just pop culture.
>>
>> "This is kind of making a laughing matter of something that's rather
>> serious," he said.
>>
>> The mayor said "silly antics" would not help resolve the questions
>> facing the City Council on Tuesday, when it is scheduled to take up the
>> matter.
>>
>> The mayor said he plans to forward some preliminary guidelines to the
>> council Monday, including a limit on the time period for the displays
>> and how to determine if a display is representative of a religion.
>>
>> "This isn't an area that we have a lot of expertise," Schmitt said.
>>
>> ---
>>
>> Information from: Green Bay Press-Gazette,
>> http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com <http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com>
>>
>> ===
>>
>> Buy your Festivus Pole at
>>
>> http://www.festivuspoles.com/pages/Festivuspoles.htm
>> <http://www.festivuspoles.com/pages/Festivuspoles.htm>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>     
>
> Will Linden  wlinden at panix.com
> http://www.ecben.net/
> Magic Code: MAS/GD S++ W++ N+ PWM++ Ds/r+ A-> a++ C+ G- QO++ 666 Y
> _______________________________________________
> To post, send message to Religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
>
> Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
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