Jewish Community Light the Menorah


On Sunday December 9, 2007 at Six PM, members of the Jewish Community gathered at the North Fork Bank Plaza, to Light the Menorah. As reported by JB, a large crowd gathered to participate in this Patchogue Village event. The event started at Six PM; the Photographer arrived at Seven PM. What was I thinking! This event represents one of the things that makes America great; "Freedom of Religion."

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Commerce and the Religious Community

Within the last few years there has been a movement to Separate Religion from Commerce. The intent was to make all religious holiday references, generic. The most vocal groups that did not believe in religion, managed to start a trend, that would eventually remove the words such as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Christmas Tree from all signs in retail stores. The signs for these holidays, such as the Menorah, and Cross, were also unofficially banned from commerce. The Atheist Community, who indeed do have the right to their beliefs, pushed on, and the Christian and Jewish Community remained silent.

From a merchant's standpoint, I could understand why this was done. A merchant is not in the business of selling Religion. He sells clothes, cars, boats, hardware and whatever! The bottom line is they must make enough money to pay the bills, and draw a salary for themselves. With the advent of the "Mall," this can be an insurmountable problem. The merchant must do whatever it takes to keep his business. Problems arise because many merchants make most of their annual profit, via sales that are directly connected to religious holidays!

So what is the merchant to do? If a major attack is coming from one religious group, he would do what it takes to stop the attack. In this case diluting and burying the symbols of the Jewish and Christian Religions, quenched the attack! This action was only a temporary fix for an ever growing problem. The Christian and Jewish Communities eventually realized what had happened, and are now the attackers, instead of the Atheist Community.

We are not the same nation that we were five years ago! Just take a walk down "Main Street USA," and listen to the people talk. You might be surprised at what you hear! We, are no longer just descendants of European Immigrants! We now live in an International Community that will further exasperate the problem. The problem is not the new immigrants, it's the fact that our merchants must now learn to deal with the multitude of new religions that are surfacing daily. The equation gets more complicated! The Christian Community is protesting now, with seven other religious groups, standing in line! No religious group wants their beliefs, diluted! It is only a matter of time until the Muslim, Buddhist, Native American, Indian, and Porto Rican Communities, take their turn at demanding respect for their beliefs.

The dilution strategy has failed miserably! If I were a merchant I would quickly adopt an all inclusive acceptance policy, for religions. In order to prevent one religion from taking offense with another because of surmised favoritism, a public statement of policy must be made on posters in every store, such as the following!

"WE RESPECT AND HONOR ALL THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY!"

Now all and every religion will be presented in the form of informative posters. This type of presentation does not constitute acceptance or favoritism. The community leaders from each of the religions that will be presented on posters, will actually write the text, and sign it!



EG.1. The merchant would display a poster saying "Merry Christmas," followed by an explanation of Christmas, by a local Priest.


EG.2. The Jewish Community would have their poster that is clearly labeled, Happy Hanukkah. The text would be written by a local Rabi, and also signed by the Rabi.


EG.3. The Atheist would have a poster stating "his beliefs. He too must also sign his poster!


What we have here is an "Academic Statement of Fact," as compiled by local Clergy, Monks, and religious representatives. The merchant did not sign the Poster! The merchant did not compose the poster! The Merchant did not say a word to indicate acceptance or sponsorship of any of the posters! The only thing the merchant actually did, was to post a statement of the "Official Store Policy;" which is:

WE RESPECT AND HONOR ALL RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY!

Who could take offense with that?


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"Lowe's Family Tree" is Once Again a Christmas Tree!

(Left click the link below)
http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/familytree.asp



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