Source: Yahoo News.
The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is pulled by workers into place as it is delivered to the west side of the U.S. Capitol in Washington November 26, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed
The Muslim Times stands for separation of Mosque-Church and State in every country of the world.
I just posted this picture here, as food for thought. If we are allowed some symbolism for Ramadan and Eid, I will not mind the Christmas tree!
Separation of Mosque-Church and State
- Solomonic wisdom needed to establish Separation of Mosque-Church-Synagogue and State
- Violence in the Bible and Jihad in the Quran
- Religion, Politics and Human Rights
- Sharia Law: Concept of Enforcement?
- How Shariah, an Intended Compass for Peace, Became a Tool of Oppression
- An invitation to other religions: demonstrating human rights and Universal Brotherhood from your scriptures
- ‘Let the Muslim be my Master in Outward Things.’ References to Islam in the Promotion of Religious Tolerance in Christian Europe
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Islam!
Quotes About Separation Of Church And State
Quotes tagged as “separation-of-church-and-state” (showing 1-21 of 21)
“Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the ‘wall of separation between church and state,’ therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
― Thomas Jefferson
― Thomas Jefferson
“Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.”
― Ronald Reagan
― Ronald Reagan
“Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself – that is my doctrine.”
― Thomas Paine, The Age Of Reason
― Thomas Paine, The Age Of Reason
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
― Robert A. Heinlein
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
― Ronald Reagan
― Ronald Reagan
“How dismal it is to see present day Americans yearning for the very orthodoxy that their country was founded to escape.”
― Christopher Hitchens
― Christopher Hitchens
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”
― James Madison
― James Madison
“The next time believers tell you that ‘separation of church and state’ does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using the word ‘trinity.’ The word ‘trinity’ appears nowhere in the bible. Neither does Rapture, or Second Coming, or Original Sin. If they are still unfazed (or unphrased), by this, then add Omniscience, Omnipresence, Supernatural,Transcendence, Afterlife, Deity, Divinity, Theology, Monotheism, Missionary, Immaculate Conception, Christmas, Christianity, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Methodist, Catholic, Pope, Cardinal, Catechism, Purgatory, Penance, Transubstantiation, Excommunication, Dogma, Chastity, Unpardonable Sin, Infallibility, Inerrancy, Incarnation, Epiphany, Sermon, Eucharist, the Lord’s Prayer, Good Friday, Doubting Thomas, Advent, Sunday School, Dead Sea, Golden Rule, Moral, Morality, Ethics, Patriotism, Education, Atheism, Apostasy, Conservative (Liberal is in), Capital Punishment, Monogamy, Abortion, Pornography, Homosexual, Lesbian, Fairness, Logic, Republic, Democracy, Capitalism, Funeral, Decalogue, or Bible.”
― Dan Barker
― Dan Barker
“They knew that to put God in the constitution was to put man out. They knew that the recognition of a Deity would be seized upon by fanatics and zealots as a pretext for destroying the liberty of thought. They knew the terrible history of the church too well to place in her keeping or in the keeping of her God the sacred rights of man. They intended that all should have the right to worship or not to worship that our laws should make no distinction on account of creed. They intended to found and frame a government for man and for man alone. They wished to preserve the individuality of all to prevent the few from governing the many and the many from persecuting and destroying the few.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll
― Robert G. Ingersoll
“Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?”
― Sandra Day O’Connor
― Sandra Day O’Connor
“The difference between Socrates and Jesus is that no one had ever been put to death in Socrates’ name. And that is because Socrates’ ideas were never made law. Law, in whatever name, protects privilege.”
― E.L. Doctorow
― E.L. Doctorow
“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.”
― Thomas Paine, The Age Of Reason
― Thomas Paine, The Age Of Reason
“The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount…If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State.”
― Harry S. Truman
― Harry S. Truman
“When the government puts its imprimatur on a particular religion it conveys a message of exclusion to all those who do not adhere to the favored beliefs. A government cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.”
― Harry A. Blackmun
― Harry A. Blackmun
“For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew–or a Quaker–or a Unitarian–or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim- -but tomorrow it may be you–until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end–where all men and all churches are treated as equal–where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice–where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind–and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.
That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe–a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
…
This is the kind of America I believe in–and this is the kind I fought for in the South Pacific, and the kind my brother died for in Europe. No one suggested then that we may have a “divided loyalty,” that we did “not believe in liberty,” or that we belonged to a disloyal group that threatened the “freedoms for which our forefathers died.”
― John F. Kennedy
“The divorce between Church and State ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no Church property anywhere, in any state or in the nation, should be exempt from equal taxation; for if you exempt the property of any church organization, to that extent you impose a tax upon the whole community.”
― James A. Garfield
― James A. Garfield
“The prince’s official job description as king will be ‘defender of the faith,’ which currently means the state-financed absurdity of the Anglican Church, but he has more than once said publicly that he wants to be anointed as defender of all faiths—another indication of the amazing conceit he has developed in six decades of performing the only job allowed him by the hereditary principle: that of waiting for his mother to expire.”
― Christopher Hitchens
― Christopher Hitchens
“So here we have found a means of a) alienating even the most flexible and patient Palestinians; while b) frustrating the efforts of the more principled and compromising Israelis; while c) empowering and financing some of the creepiest forces in American and Israeli society; and d) heaping ordure on our own secular founding documents. When will the Justice Department and the Congress and the Supreme Court become aware of this huge and rank offense, which is designed to bring us ever nearer to holy war?”
― Christopher Hitchens
― Christopher Hitchens
tags: holy-war, israel, israel-united-states-relations, israeli-palestinian-conflict, israeli-settlement, israelis, palestine, palestinians, scotus, secularism, separation-of-church-and-state, united-states, united-states-congress, united-states-constitution, us-department-of-justice, us-treasury-department, war, west-bank
“The way liberals are interpreting the First Amendment today is that it prevents anyone who is religious from being in government.”
― Rush Limbaugh, Way Things Ought to Be
― Rush Limbaugh, Way Things Ought to Be
“It’s a curious thing in American life that the most abject nonsense will be excused if the utterer can claim the sanction of religion. A country which forbids an established church by law is prey to any denomination. The best that can be said is that this is pluralism of a kind.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports
― Christopher Hitchens, Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports
Categories: Americas, Separation of Church and State
Question is how much longer people of the world (not Christians only)shall continue this forged and fake celebration in the name of Jesus?
Question is how much longer name of Jesus a messenger of one God would be attached with Pagans’ mythological festival?
Question is when people will come to realize they have been fooled in the name of Jesus and committing heretical practices?
Question is when will this pagan celebration come to an end literally? Sooner or later it has to.Pope Benedict probably has taken a stance to defend his papacy position when things would be be more vivid and audacious.
Once I asked my (somehow)Christian friend why do you celebrate when it is proved Jesus was not born on 25th December and it was a Germanic pagan celebration event……….he simply answered …….I don’t know Jesus what I do know is that I like to have tree in my home as my ancestors did.
President Obama is entitled to celebrate Christmas at his home, the White House.
Phkiristanis should worry about the country where Muslim graves are exhumed by Muslim government.
The Christmas tree was symbolic of the changing seasons, a kind of thanksgiving by the people of northern Europe before Christianity. I see nothing wrong with that. All the above quotes need to be considered, because they indicate rationally why church/religion should be separate from state, and that people should be free to worship in whichever way they feel disposed, and that is how it should be;for this freedom people left Europe in the past, and to escape religious persecution, dictatorship and wars. Contrast that with Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim countries, where there is also religious persecution, dictatorship and wars;, and most people there are now desperate to be liberated and live under an American-like system. They, more or less, have it right. The Christmas tree, which could be renamed, is an innocent scapegoat in all this.
Perhaps the tree should be accepted as a symbol of light and peace, perhaps ‘Peace Tree’ would be appropriate.
We musn’t forget that the Muslim world has also adopted a pre-Muslim symbol in the moon and star, and most people don’t know it’s meaning.
I see no problem with either.
I would leave this discussion up to the Christians. If they want to call it Christmas Tree, let them…
I have no problem with the Christmas Tree for Christians. Let them. Where I do have a small problem is when Muslims put them up in their houses too and copy the Christian traditions, often they mix it up with the New Year, as they know they have nothing really to celebrate on Christmas. Also for instance in Thailand the Malls are full of Christmas Carols, although the Christian population in Thailand is probably not more than 2% (among Chinese residents).
Unfortunately, Christmas has become over-commercialised, it is now very much a non-religious event, especially in the US, but it is a festive time of year, and there is no reason why everyone shouldn’t enjoy the time in whichever way they like, religious or just as family get-togethers, which is what it is for most people. It is a very dismal time of year, and it’s good to cheer people up. A tree is not going to harm anyone, and why is it necessary to stick to one tradition, the world is constantly changing.
@Anwar
I am not interested at all to know where this guy celebrates this pagan festival or what is his religion in fact? I just wish and pray that Jesus (PBUH)a prophet of one God be detached from pagan mythological lavishing time wasting festival and his teachings be restored among his followers! So consequently I pray that all true Christians should revert to Jesus true teachings i.e. ISLAM and Inshallah it must happen no matter how much it displeases the nonbelievers.
Secondly, We Ahmadi Muslims worry for whole humanity specially for those who have lost the true and straight path and reject continuously His prophets, firstly Muslims who have rejected their promised messiah and Mahdi and then Christians who have rejected the promised Final law-bearing prophet as prophesied in the bible. And now you can see both these people are under Allah’s anger and wrath. And of course then all other who even reject God are also under extreme punishment of Allah
@Renate Chaudry
Yes that is true so this pagan festival now must be refrained to its origin or at least attributed to where it actually belonged to i.e. Nordic and Germanic pagans lands so that true Christians in whole world must rethink 100 times before they celebrate it.
Honestly and truly speaking if it must be celebrated then first its should renamed by dislodging Jesus name and as a non religious festival such as Halloween or like Holi in India or Noroz in Iran.
Freedom of expression and faith are core vital values and principle of a society claiming to constitute harmony, equality and justice and therefore I highly appreciate US political system where this has been guaranteed to ensure though we see a rise in misusing or a kind of exploitation of the first one. As an Ahmadi Muslim I pray and wish that Muslim nations may resume their prophet teaching of establishing such society where a Christian citizen may be able to reach highest political or administrative position on purely merit, without any prejudice or any secondary reason.
One very important clarification here! Many Christians either misinformed or mal-intended try to cover their mythological pagans’ beliefs and practices by attacking erroneously calling Muslims the worshippers of moon god that is of pre-Islamic times (Hindus also attack the black stone kiss). It is totally false and baseless blame.
Moon was the monarch symbol of Arab kingdom during pre-Islamic times. Even before Islam there was no such thing moon god but a symbolic representation of Arab establishment. Lunar deities were in fact found in other religions.
Let alone speak of using its symbol for worship (as cross in Christianity or deities in other religions) or some kind of sacred stuff or festival, Prophet Muhammad SAW (also his right successors) even never and ever adopted it as symbol of Islam or used it as an official emblem or insignia during conflicts or any assembly.
I would like to give two great instances of Prophet Muhammad SAW times that prove it comprehensively. A heavenly sign of splitting of moon was shown to Arab pagans in favour of Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) claim that Arab monarchy is now shattered away with the advent of Allah’s messenger. Secondly Prophet Muhammad’s SAW Jewish wife (before marrying ) dreamed that moon fell on her cradle and when she told her father that dream he furiously slapped her face and said “you dream of marrying Arabs’ King”. When asked about the mark on her face, she told that dream to Prophet Muhammad SAW he replied Allah fulfilled His dream.
pagans eaching of establishing such society where a Christian citizen may be able to reach highest political or administrative
Now as far as point is concerned that Muslim world have adopted this pre-Islamic symbol then it should not be forgotten that only few Muslim nations use Crescent for their national symbol and almost all of them are of Turkic or more precisely Ottoman origin. The reason is very obvious Ottomans were looking for a political cum strategic banner where they might assemble Muslims for their empire building and expansion. Before them no Muslim empire or state used officially Crescent as it was not in practice since origin of Islam. Prophet Muhammad SAW used a plain black banner.
Since it was impossible for Muslims to adopt cross where some kind of symbol must be adopted such as red-cross they instead use red-crescent.
So it should be clear that crescent is not something sacred or holy symbol for Muslims like cross or Christmas tree etc. But since Ottomans left an unprecedented political impact on modern times history, crescent has been adopted as symbol of Muslim political representation where it is needed.
For Muslims the most sacred representation is creed and in my suggestion if a symbol is to be used then it should be a minaret which represents the call to straight path the path of Allah OR simply a rectangular black tile.