A legal organization that specializes in religious liberty issues is urging a Nebraska school principal to overturn her directive that banned anything related to Christmas – including Christmas music, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, candy canes and the colors red and green.  

“I come from a place that Christmas and the like are not allowed in schools, as over the years in my educational career, this has evolved into the expectation for all educators,” Jennifer Sinclair, the principal of Manchester Elementary School, wrote in a letter to faculty. 

The banned items involve not only religious symbols but secular ones, too, including Santa. 

Liberty Counsel, a legal group that specializes in First Amendment issues, wrote the superintendent of Elkhorn Public Schools, urging him to overturn the policy. 

“The ban violates the U.S. Constitution by showing hostility toward Christianity,” the letter read. “The ban also violates Elkhorn Public Schools board policy; the academic freedom rights of teachers; and it violates the First Amendment right of students to receive information.”

The banned items include:

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  Santas or Christmas items (clipart) on worksheets.
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  Christmas trees in classrooms. 
• 
  Elf on the Shelf.
• 
  Christmas carols.
• 
  Christmas music.
• 
  Scholastic books that are Christmas related.
• 
  Making a…

The small city of Dover, Ohio made the decision to relocate its Ten Commandments monument and a nativity display after being threatened with a lawsuit. Both the monument and the nativity display were on property owned by the city. 

CBN News reports that the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist organization with roots in Madison, Wisconsin, sent a letter to the Ohio city earlier in the year which claimed that a worried citizen reported the monument and nativity scene, as well as a sizable Latin cross on a separate display. The Freedom of Religion Foundation then informed the city that all three pieces reported were a violation of the separation of church and state. 

Although Dover law director Douglas O’Meara did not agree with the foundation, he points out the city’s choice to err on the side of caution.

When speaking with Fox affiliate WJW-TV in Cleveland, O’Meara disclosed, “The response would be that it can be very expensive, from the point of view it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“27 years I’ve been mayor, nothing like this has ever happened,” Mayor Richard Homrighausen revealed to the television station. “Never imagined it would happen.”

An article from TheTimesReporter states that both the monument and the nativity display were moved 100 feet away from property belonging to the city and relocated to…

Christian singer Michael W. Smith performed his song “Friends” at President George H.W. Bush’s funeral on Wednesday. 

In an interview with CBN News, Smith said having the opportunity to perform at the 41^stPresidents funeral is an “honor beyond words.”

President Bush, who fought a long battle with vascular Parkinsonism, died on Friday, at the age of 94.

According to Newsweek, Bush requested that his close friend, Smith, sing “Friends” at his funeral service.

“First and foremost, I hope the song is very honoring of the president because he loved the song,” the three-time Grammy award winner, told Christianity Today in an interview on Wednesday. “The last time I saw him when we said goodbye, he gave me a hug, pointed his finger in the air, and with a twinkle in his eye, said, ‘Friends are friends forever.’”

“He’s just been an inspiration to me,” the singer continued. “We didn’t talk about politics much. But we did have a lot of conversations about God and faith.”

According to Christianity Today, Smith met Bush in 1989, when he performed at the White House for Christmas. The two became fast friends, they even went on vacation to Greece together. 

Reportedly the two bonded over their shared friendship with the late Billy Graham, who died at the beginning of 2018. “One thing that tied…

Two separate sources recently questioned the historicity of Jesus. But let us set the record straight.

First, on a comedy show on TBS, “The Guestbook,” just before Christmastime, one of the characters likened belief in Jesus to belief in Santa. The episode is called, “Tonight you become a man”—where a character supposedly becomes an adult by realizing Santa and Jesus are just myths.

Second, the Muslim prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, claimed that there is “no mention of Jesus in history.” Khan’s view that Jesus is not a historical figure puts him out of step with  Mohammed, who believed that “Prophet Jesus” (as he would have called him) was historical. (It’s also worth noting that Khan was born on October 5, 1952—that is to say, 1952 years after the reported birth of Jesus.)

But what about this matter of Jesus and history? Is Jesus Christ a verifiable historical figure, using the criteria that historians use, or not?

Will Durant, the great non-Christian historian who wrote the series, The Story of Civilization, noted in his third volume, Caesar and Christ (1944), that if the criteria by which some philosophers claim Jesus didn’t really exist as a historical person were used consistently, then we’d have to throw out noteworthy historical figures, such as Hammurabi or King David by that same criteria.

Durant, a respected historian, had no such doubts as to Jesus’…

JEBBU MIANGO, Nigeria, December 5, 2018 (Morning Star News) – A grandmother in Nigeria whose 35-year-old son, 21-year-old daughter-in-law and 5-year-old granddaughter were shot dead by Muslim Fulani herdsmen is now homeless after she and other relatives fled the attack in August.

“We were taken in by a family in Jebbu Miango village, but unfortunately the room we were given has been destroyed as a result of torrential rains,” Talatu Gado told Morning Star News as tears ran down her cheeks. “You can see that we now sleep in the open.”

Members of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Zanwra village, in Bassa county of Plateau state, Gado and her relatives were at their home in Angwan Kauna village when the herdsmen attacked on Aug. 3. Slain were her son, Emmanuel Gado, his sister-in-law Ladi Monday and the latter’s daughter, Mary Monday. A fourth relative, 7-year-old Gado Monday, was wounded by gunshot.

“Prior to the herdsmen attack on us, they had while grazing their cattle around homes and farms threatened us severally,” Talatu Gado told Morning Star News. “One of them once told me that a day would come that I will weep, that is if I’m still alive to cry. I never knew they’ll carry out their threat. Now my heart bleeds.”

The matriarch and her relatives have not been able to return to their village due to the threat of further attacks, she…

Former United States president George W. Bush took the stage to deliver a touching eulogy in honor of his late father, George H.W. Bush. 

According to Faithwire, the well-known faces in the audience, which included former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, were captivated, while many viewers at home tuned in to watch the former president give this moving eulogy live. The event took place on Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral. 

Recalling a number of humorous and heartwarming stories about him, Bush was unable to hide his emotions as he described his father as a “great and noble man,” and “the best father or son a daughter could have.”

“To his very last days, Dad’s life was instructive,” Bush stated.  “As he aged, he taught us how to grow with dignity, humor and kindness, and when the good Lord finally called, how to meet Him with courage, and with the joy of the promise of what lies ahead.”

In regard to his father’s remarkable strength, the 43rd president had this to say: “When he lost, he shouldered the blame. He accepted that failure is a part of living a full life. but taught us never to be defined by failure. He showed us how setbacks can strengthen.”

Bush went on to mention Robin, his younger sister, who had tragically passed away from leukemia when she was only three years…