Anyone questioning Ellwood City’s holiday orientation received a definitive answer as the first float in Saturday’s Christmas parade passed the municipal building on Lawrence Avenue.

Children from the First Christian Church, dressed as cattle, sheep and angels, waved to the crowd assembled on the sidewalks.

“The night-before-Christmas creatures are looking for Jesus,” the public address announcer said. “Are you?”

A letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, revealed earlier this week, challenged the borough’s decision to display a Christian Nativity on municipal building property. The foundation asked to display a banner that said, in part, “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

There were at least three Christian-themed floats in Saturday’s parade. There were no Freedom From Religion floats or banners. Municipal property, late Saturday afternoon, housed the Nativity along with Santa Claus, a reindeer and sleigh, a snowman, a Kwanzaa sign and a wind-blown Trader Horn advertisement (“all Christmas wreaths in stock 25% off, window candles 2 for $5.”)

When Saturday’s parade ended, three generations of Ellwood City resident Doris Rosado’s family visited the borough’s Nativity for photographs. There were two other families that arrived for photographs before them.

“I feel good about Ellwood City taking a stand,” Rosado said. “If you don’t believe in it, don’t look at it.”

On Friday, Ellwood City area residents rallied in support of the Nativity. One of the Christian supporters planted a handmade banner in the ground next to the Nativity. It reflected the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech … ”

Ashley Thompson, Rosado’s daughter, took a similar stance.

“I understand both sides of the controversy, but this is what the people want. Shouldn’t the people of Ellwood City decide what to do?”

On Sunday, the group Wisconsin Family Action put up a nativity scene of the birth of Jesus in the Capitol rotunda.

Wednesday, an atheist group responded with a much different nativity scene.

It has the same setup: wise men, a baby in a manger, angels, but its certainly not the nativity scene most people are used to seeing.

The wise men are Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.

The baby is an African girl, to represent the birthplace of humanity.

The angels are an astronaut and the Statue of Liberty.

The group responsible for it admits they wouldn’t have even created it, if it wasn’t for the Christian nativity scene put up three days earlier.

“But, since it is a public forum, it didn’t look like legally we could do anything, so, we were left with putting up our own, natural nativity display,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

FFRF is putting up a fight against what it calls the blurring of church and state.

“We think that the rotunda is getting too littered, we don’t think that it should be a public forum for religion at the seat of government,” said Gaylor.

The nativity scene controversy comes just a few weeks after Governor Scott Walker referred to the pine tree put on display in the rotunda as a Christmas Tree, instead of a Holiday Tree, which it had been called since 1985.

“Yeah, I feel like the fact that there was a statement that, ‘this is a Christmas Tree, not a Holiday Tree,’ does make it a little…those lines are merging and I don’t think that should happen in government, said UW Student Ali Bramson.

Others think the Christian references and displays are hurting anybody.

“I personally thought it was mockery not to call it a Christmas Tree down through these years, because it seemed like you couldn’t celebrate any of the holidays,” said John McNeill, a Christian.

While the controversy goes on, many wish both sides would simply go away.

“I would rather see neither,” said visitor Caroline Greenwald. “I believe that the state represents the people, and the people are very diverse and represents all sorts of religion or non-religious attitudes or feelings.”

“We certainly need separation of church and state, so I think its very unfortunate that it becomes an issue,” said Ray Nashold, a former state worker.

The nativity scenes are both permitted and will stay up through the holidays.

A new ad from UNICEF Sweden is meant to encourage viewers to give gifts of charity during the Holiday Season, but has the punchline and vibe of an Occupy Wall Street propaganda linking Santa Claus to the 1 percent. Could the United Nations Children’s Fund be the latest participant in the War on Christmas?

While giving charitable donations in others names as gifts may be a noble gesture, the brash and cold Saint Nick presented in the commercial seems like an odd way to entice viewers to purchase UNICEF stocking suffers such as malaria tablets, rehydration bags and polio vaccines.

“I don’t do poor countries,” says Santa in a malevolent tone closing the commercial. He is followed by the UNICEF message “We go where Santa doesn’t — Buy your Christmas gifts at unicef.se.”

A bizarre holiday display of a skeleton dressed as Santa Claus and hanging on a cross outside a Virginia courthouse has caused controversy.

Decorating at the Leesburg, VA, courthouse grounds was delayed until the owners of the Santa crucifix removed it from the property.

The skeleton was in a heap on the court house lawn along with a letter addressed to Christians, and signed “Jesus.” Many believe the display belongs to an atheist.

“I think it was horrible to have that on the courthouse lawn, and I’m glad it’s gone,” said a Leesburg resident.

To avoid the ongoing clash between Christians and atheists, County Supervisor Stevens Miller pushed a bill to ban all displays entirely for the rest of the season.

“Our children are going to be going shopping with their parents, [they] have a right to walk down the street and not be accosted by threatening, violent, nightmarish imagery like a skeleton of Santa on a crucifix,” Miller said.

The measure was rejected, leaving the conflict unresolved.

In spite of Miller’s effort there will be more displays, as Leesburg is decked out in preparation for Saturday’s big holiday parade. A nativity scene will be set up on the courthouse lawn for the parade, as will a display by atheists.

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.