18 December 2011

 

By Patrick Butler | ResonateNews.com

ATHENS, Texas – About 5,000 people, event organizers estimated, converged in a colorful and peaceful, strident-free rally here today at the Henderson County Courthouse. The crowd choked the courthouse grounds to support county commissioners in their decision to display a nativity scene at the courthouse, despite a Dec. 5 legal challenge by the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, Wis.

Waving several types of flags, banners and holding signs of support at the noon rally, the crowd spilled over into closed off Prairieville Street on the west side of the courthouse. Some participants even stood on the roofs of buildings surrounding the courthouse to get a better view of the proceedings.

“For God so loved the world,” one sign with a gold-colored heart read, “including Wisconsin.”

"This is not a protest," the Rev. Dr. Nathan Lorick, an event organizer, told ResonateNews.com before the rally. "This is a celebration to say 'Thank you' to our commissioners, to show them our support and to peacefully pray for our nation. This is a peaceful – but determined – gathering to help take our nation back to the spiritual roots it was founded on and has always enjoyed a full expression of until recently.”

Lorick said he's been inundated with interview requests from television, radio and newspaper outlets throughout America, and beyond.

“I've had calls, letters and emails from around the country – and internationally – supporting us,” he said. “The eyes of Texas are upon us here today. The eyes of America are upon us; even the eyes of the world are upon us. But most importantly, the eyes of God are upon us here. We want people to be encouraged by the right decision of our commissioners."



The Freedom From Religion Foundation had notified the commissioners of this East Texas county on Dec. 5 that the display of its opinion that the nativity was illegal and called for its removal from courthouse property. The commissioners declined the "request."

Despite some white and black flags at the rally reading “Come and Take it” – a Texas historical reference to a statement made during the Texas battle for independence – and yellow flags reading “Don't Tread on Me,” key-note speakers did not mention the Freedom From Religion Foundation during the hour-long rally.

   Instead, speakers such as the Rev. Erick Graham, pastor of the Sand Springs Baptist Church of Henderson County called for area churches to “reach out" to a needy community. 



“Today I am urging all of our local pastors and ministries to continue in a united effort to reach our county with the power of the Gospel,” Graham said. “Though we don't all agree on every doctrine, we do agree that Jesus is the answer to the problems our citizens struggle with."

Graham was strikingly candid about the severity of problems facing Henderson county, where he is a fifth-generation - and "proud resident" - he said.

"Yet we (in Henderson County) are in the top two percent in Texas in teen pregnancy," he said. "We triple the state average in child abuse and are 26 percent higher than the national average in violent crimes."

The county is also 48 percent higher in property crimes than the national average, he said, and 168 percent higher in forcible rape,.

"Friends, we have been losing the battle," Graham said. "The light of the righteous has been pushed back and suppressed.... it is because the church Jesus was speaking of is not the same church our citizens have been seeing...For too long we have been hiding in the walls of our buildings."

Graham was "proud" of Henderson county because, he said,  "for the first time there is going to be a concerted effort by the churches of this county to reach out to the struggling and the hurting. We are not merely going to treat the symptoms, but we are going to address the disease. I believe this should begin today."

in a veiled reference to Freedom From Religion Foundation claims that religion is a "superstition," the Rev. Robert Welch of Rock Hill Church of Brownsboro said to the crowd, "Religion is not a myth. It is not a superstition that hardens the heart or enslaves the mind. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ breaks the hard heart, filling it with Christ and freeing the mind that surrenders to him."

WEB EXTRA: See a photo gallery of the Athens rally at the Resonate News facebook page.

Several times Lorick revisited the theme that it was time for Christians to show determination and "take America back to a place of spiritual health and vitality."

"We will not bow out," he said. "We will not be fearful to stand for our faith. We will not be intimidated and we will be silent another day."

In the audience, Tila Dietz of Tyler said, “I came here today just to be a blessing, pray and be a support.”

  

“We're not protesting anything,” said Don Andrews of First Baptist Church of Malakoff. “I'm here to keep Christ in Christmas. The birth of Christ is what Christmas is all about.”

Linda Vancleave of Athens First United Methodist said, “We're saying we want the manger to stay. We want to pray that people's eyes are opened to what it means.”

Travis Elledge of First Assembly of God in Malakoff said he wasn't trying to offend anybody.

“The nativity is something special,” he said.  “We want it to stay here. It's not offending anyone, and I don't want to offend anyone. If people don't like it, they can avert their  eyes as they drive by.”

After the rally, many people posed for photos at the center of the controversy - the nativity scene located at the southeast corner of the courthouse grounds where the six-foot high and 20-foot long depiction of the birth of the baby Jesus sits.

Already included in Christmas displays at the courthouse are a Santa Claus taking gift requests from children, reindeer, a gingerbread house, candy canes, a decorated tree and colored ornaments scattered throughout the grounds.

It is unclear if the Freedom From Religion Foundation plans to pursue a legal challenge in an attempt to forcibly remove the display of Christ being born in a manger.

Attempts to reach the foundation by phone were unsuccessful. There was no indication on the group's website as to a course of action if its demand to remove the nativity was denied.



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