At the center of yet another atheist-led drama is a nativity that is currently stationed inside Warren, Michigan City Hall. If the Christian-based imagery is going to be present, atheists contend that the town must also allow other religions displays that represent different viewpoints. The Freedom from Religion Foundation — making headlines and threats coast-to-coast this Christmas — has promised legal action if they continue to be ignored on the issue.

So, to level the playing field, they wish to post a sign that says (you may recall this same message from other nativity dramas, as this is frequently used by the FFRF):

“At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

Douglas Marshall, a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is claiming that Warren Mayor Jim Fouts is discriminating against atheists and nonbelievers, while engaging in illegal censorship. So far, the mayor has ignored Marshall’s requests to post the sign.

While the local atheist has apparently tried to place the sign inside city hall, it has been removed, as he does not have the permission to do so. If Fouts continues to ignore the request to place the sign inside of the government building, the FFRF has pledged to file a lawsuit in the coming days.

The battle over a nativity scene in Athens, Texas, reached new heights this weekend when up to 5,000 supporters flooded the town square. Their purpose? To stand firmly opposed to the attacks a prominent atheist group has waged on the religious display.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group that frequently targets the presence of faith and religion in the public square, is demanding that a nativity scene be removed from public property.

On Saturday, thousands of supporters assembled in Athens Town Square to rally around and support the religious display. According to WTKR, some likened the ever-intensifying scenario a “holy war.”

Supporters of the nativity scene claim that there’s an attack on Christianity in America. ”It’s time for us to stand together and protect the very principles that made this nation great from its birth,” said Pastor Nathan Lorick, a nativity scene supporter. ”We‘ve become so busy with our lives that we’ve forgotten our first love.”

National Group Wants Courthouse Nativity Scene Removed: MyFoxDFW.com

Critics though — mostly atheists — believe that the scene is offensive and that it should not be present on government property (the nativity is currently positioned in front of the Henderson County Courthouse). The Daily Mail has more:

Saturday’s rally passed without incident and included speeches, patriotic music, Christmas carols and prayers.

The FFRF sent a banner to the court house that it wanted displayed, with a very different message than the birth of Christ.

The group‘s banner read ’At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail.’

‘There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds,’ it finished.

The sign was initially put up by a mystery man, but was later removed because the proper compliance forms hadn’t been filed. While the FFRF is known to sue if it doesn’t win in these sorts of situations, the town, so far, shows no signs of backing down.

The Christmas sprit is alive in downtown Athens, Texas. Reindeer pull Santa, carolers stand on the corner, and a Christmas tree stands tall.

But on one corner, a nativity scene — and it’s stirring controversy. The Freedom from Religion Foundation wants it out.

“A group from Wisconsin notified us and said we were in violation in federal law with our nativity scene and they wanted us to remove it.”

The Keep Athens Beautiful Committee has been putting up the nativity scene since 2002, and County Judge Richard Sanders says it’s not violating any law.

“Because we have all the other decorations, it’s legal,” he said.”Our county attorney has looked into it.”

But the Freedom from Religion Foundation says the nativity scene shows favoritism. They tell CBS 19 they want it removed, or they want their own sign added.

It would read, “At this season of the winters solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

“Don’t come down here and tell me there is no god,” Henderson County Commissioner Joe Hall said.

Hall says he’ll fight to keep the nativity intact.

“This nation is a Christian nation regardless of what those fruit loops and fruitcakes in Washington D.C. say,” Hall said. “Hell will freeze over before I vote to have it removed.”

And, his passion is echoed by people who live in Athens who are gathering signatures for a petition to keep the manger scene.

“We love our display and we love our Lord,” Tracy Lyda said as she held her clipboard full of signatures.

“Christianity is a majority and it is time to stand up and speak up,” First Baptist Church of Malakoff Pastor Nathan Lorick said.

Lorick is organizing a rally at noon on December 17th at the Henderson County Courthouse to show unity among believers.

“I hope this is a platform all across the nation that says, let’s take America back,” he said.

A movement born from this small display in this small East Texas town.

The Henderson County judge says that Keep Athens beautiful is in charge of all decorations because the county made a resolution that put them in charge back in 2002. They decorate the courthouse throughout the year.

Judge Sanders says if another group wants to add decorations to the display, like that sign the group wants added, he said they can go through the commissioners court.

A controversial Christmas time billboard depicting the Virgin Mary holding up a pregnancy testing kit has been vandalised.

A large portion was torn off the billboard erected at Auckland Anglican church St Matthew-in-the-City by a group calling itself Catholic Action.

Spokesman Arthur Skinner said he and other concerned Catholics want the faith maintained and not blasphemed by what he says are the rainbow group at the church.

“This country needs to be very careful what it is doing to the mother of God,” he told ONE News.

“This is the sort of stuff that God absolutely slams a country for. We were shocked as Catholics that the politicians will allow this attack on the one true faith – the Roman Catholic faith.”

“They’ve let this group of radicals attack the virgin this is the kind of thing people go to hell for.”

Skinner said New Zealand is the only country he knows of that allows banners like this to go up.

“It’s more than sick.”

He said it could impact tourism for the county and New Zealand is the “darkest country in the world”.

He said the pregnancy test is a “symbol of death” because it implies she may have wanted to abort Jesus if she knew she was pregnant.

Skinner said he is guilty of vandalising the billboard.

“If they want to arrest me then so be it,” he said.

Billboards put up by St Matthew in past years have also attracted controversy and have been vandalised.

The church describes itself as catering for a progressive congregation.

Skinner orchestrated a protest at the national museum, Te Papa, in Wellington, over its display of the Virgin in a Condom in 1998.

Chinese police and government officials scuffled with Christians and smashed sound equipment for a public Christmas celebration in an eastern village known for unofficial house churches and producing ornaments.

Christians in Xintan village said Friday that the officials wrecked a mixing console, turned over an electric piano and pushed and punched worshippers, injuring five, Tuesday night. A local official said the believers hit first, sending a deputy village head to the hospital.

“There were a few hundred of us. And the village heads were there too, and they were even more violent,” said Wang Jingfeng, one of the Christians present. “This is like a dog biting a rat.”

Setting off the scuffle was an attempt by an unregistered local church to hold a Christmas gala on a stage set up in a village square.

The Xintan Village Church, in a video posted on YouTube, said the local government authorized the event. But a higher-level official in charge of religious affairs said the believers were asked a day earlier to cancel because regulations forbid worship outdoors and Buddhists in the community complained.

“We told them that any outdoors event of a religious nature is strictly banned from being organized, and that’s what it states in the government rule on religion,” said Zeng Jianhua, deputy director of religious affairs in Ruian city, which oversees Xintan.

Though small on the surface, the to-do underscores the blurry status of religion in a fast-changing China. Belief in all faiths is soaring while the officially atheistic, communist government is wary about religious groups growing popular and beyond its control.

Some Communist Party members are getting caught up in the revival, violating party rules and becoming active religious believers in a trend that drew a high-level admonition Friday. “If we let party members believe in religion … this will inevitably result in the splits in the party organization,” Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister for the United Front Work Department, wrote in an essay in the party magazine “Seeking Truth.”

The hills and rocky coastline around Ruian are teeming with Buddhist shrines and Christian churches mixed in among small, privately owned factories producing clothes and other consumer goods. While many of these Christian congregations, often called house churches because they originally operated in people’s homes, are unauthorized, officials often turn a blind eye to them as long as they’re discreet.

Ruian has become home to makers of toys and Christmas ornaments. Xintan bills itself as “Christmas village.” Local factories produced more than $78 billion, or 500 million yuan, in Christmas products this year, prompting local officials to stage a Christmas arts and culture fair last Saturday in celebration. That inspired the Xintan Village Church to hold its own nighttime Christmas party Tuesday, the church statement said.

The video the church posted online showed people putting up decorations on a stage with a red backdrop that says “Silent Night” in Chinese and English and below that “2011 Christmas Village Christmas Party” while Christmas music plays in the background. Uniformed police then cut the electricity, killing the sound, while throngs flood the stage pushing and shoving.

Zeng, the religious affairs official, said the church members had been obstinate, turning down government requests to call off the event. The authorities acted, he said, because they were worried that the party might rile the local Buddhist community.

“There has long been tension between the Christians and the Buddhists, ” Zeng said. “And among the village officials, some are Christians and some are Buddhists. Some of the village officials wanted to beat them, and we stopped them. Nobody beat anyone.”