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• Supreme Court turns away dispute over menorah in city plaza | On Nov. 29, Justice Stevens vacated lower court's order that would have prevented Hanukkah display in Cincinnati's Fountain Square (Associated Press)
  
  
• Bah, humbug to that! | It seems that we all have bought into the PC ruling that the only way to avoid any possibility of insult is to offer the utterly bland ''happy holidays'' greetings to any and all (Cindy Richards, Chicago Sun-Times)

Other Christmas stories:

• Missing from manger | Baby Jesus statue kidnapped; thieves demand ransom (The Trentonian, N.J.)
  
  
• Who was the real Virgin Mary? | She is the ultimate icon of womanhood — with 2,000 years of myth-making attached (Helen Bond, The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Nativity film ban at Norfolk school | More schools include measures out of fear of pedophiles (BBC)

Ten Commandments:

• A cadet hopes to honor a father killed in combat | The most straightforward of the commandments — one that many can fulfill without great sacrifice — profoundly shaped Jeremy Scott's destiny (The New York Times)
  
  
• Decalogical | A Ten Commandments slide show (Slate)
  
  
• 300 show support for Moore, monument | The pro-monument crowd included three busloads or about 120 people from Kentucky and Tennessee who had organized in support of displays of the Ten Commandments in public buildings in those states (The Birmingham News)
  
  
• Also: Hundreds rally in Ala. for religious monument (Associated Press)
  
  
• Ten Commandments for sale? | Hamilton County considering auctioning plaques (Associated Press)

Politics and law:

• Judge me by my work, not my faith | Why can't a practicing Catholic sit on the federal bench? (Douglas W. Kmiec, The Wall Street Journal)
  
  
• Mom brings 'under God' crusade to area | Marcus Pointe church weighs in on school pledge case (Pensacola [Fla.] News Journal)
  
  
• Salvation for report on Bible | School district changes its stance after lawyer threatens rights lawsuit (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
  
  
• To school: Give hymn its marching orders | Band director Alfred Watkins called the 10-minute program "Liturgical Sketches." From here, it looks like an end run around the constitutional separation of church and state (Lee McAuliffe Rambo, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
  
• Christianity: Lake's official religion? | The County Commission has never been shy about promoting the Christian beliefs of its five board members (The Orlando Sentinel)
  
  
• Baptists get permit for Grace Christian but ACLU says suit not over | Second Baptist and the ACLU are suing the borough, alleging that its zoning hearing board wrongfully denied the church's purchase of Grace Christian Ministries (The Daily News, McKeesport, Penn.)
  
  
• Holy Moses! School can't nix Exodus | The district's policy is clear: Religious institutions are central to the human experience, and a person who knows nothing about religion is incompletely educated (Clint Talbott, The Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.)
  
  
• Symbols vs. free speech | A ruling that removed burning crosses from lawful discourse would give that symbol a unique status in modern American free-speech jurisprudence (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
  
  
• Oregon court rejects ban on Boy Scout recruiting | Atheist mother had sought to prevent scouting presentations in schools because the organization requires belief in God (Associated Press)

War, Iraq,terrorism, etc.:

• Rumsfeld consults with religious leaders on war, peace | Clergy participants described the two-hour gathering as a "good exchange" during which Pentagon officials updated them on their efforts in Afghanistan and beyond and took questions from faith leaders about the religious and moral implications of the military efforts (Religion News Service)
  
  

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December (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46