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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Asia Pacific World Christmas becomes a battleground in some US towns AFP - Wednesday, December 23 Send IM Story Print In Virginia a battle is being fought over placing a Christmas tree and nativity scene in the grounds of a small town's courthouse. Edward Myers stands near posters celebrating the anniversary of the US Bill of Rights December 14 on the fence of the Loundon County Courthouse in Leesburg, Virginia. LEESBURG, Virginia (AFP) - – In a town in Virginia where a key Civil War battle was fought in 1861, the battleground this year has moved to the courthouse and the prize being fought over is Christmas. The row blew up when residents planning to put up a Christmas tree and a nativity scene, as they have done for decades, were told by county officials that no decor would be allowed on the grounds of the courthouse this year. The official reason given was that too many groups wanted to place displays on the courthouse lawn and that all the requests were unmanageable. When townsfolk protested, the ban was lifted -- but only for the first five groups to get their applications in. The creche and the tree went up, the Jewish community installed a menorah. And an atheist group and a man promoting the separation of church and state put up banners. "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," read the banner posted by the atheist group Freedom from Religion, which went up last week. Days earlier, Leesburg resident Ed Myers posted a parody of the Twelve days of Christmas and a reworded "Pledge of Allegiance", which Americans say, hand on heart, to the US flag. "This is a teaching moment... to help people understand the separation of church and state and the distinction between sacred and secular," Myers told AFP as he hung his laminated signs on the courthouse fence. "The people who put up the creche have missed the point: that belongs in a church, in homes, in places where we can be sacred about it," Myers said. Leesburg isn't alone in battling over Christmas trees, manger scenes and menorahs. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a manger scene and menorah were removed from the grounds of the Luzerne County courthouse last week after civil liberties groups threatened to sue over what they saw as government endorsement of religion. "The courthouse, the symbol of the law in Luzerne County, is an especially important place to respect the diversity of beliefs in our community," said Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the groups that has threatened to sue. But the creche and menorah were back in place Monday, along with secular decorations like candy canes and reindeer, after a local law firm offered its services for free if the county was sued. A courthouse in California took down a Christmas tree it has put up each winter for decades after it received complaints about having a symbol associated with a particular religion on display. "The tree was taken down while court employees did research to make sure its presence could be supported by case law," court spokeswoman Carole Levitzky said in the Los Angeles Times. The tree was back up one day later, the LA Times reported. Even the Supreme Court has got involved in the imbroglio about Christmas decorations on public land. In 1984, the Supreme Court overturned two lower courts and allowed a Rhode Island town to have a creche in its Christmas display along with secular items. Five years later, it barred the display of a creche on its own in a county courthouse in Pittsburgh but allowed a Christmas tree that was displayed alongside a menorah. The creche sent "an unmistakable message" that the county "supports and promotes the Christian praise to God," the late Justice Harry Blackmun said in the court's opinion on the case. The menorah in front of a Christmas tree, meanwhile, was "understood as simply a recognition that Christmas is not the only traditional way of observing the winter holiday season." Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel which defends religious freedoms in the US courts, said the fight against Christmas has been waged on other fronts. "Wal-Mart used to tell its employees that if a customer said 'Merry Christmas' they were prohibited from returning the greeting and had to say 'Happy holidays.' And they called Christmas trees holiday trees," he said. The low-cost US shop has changed its ways and now uses the word "Christmas", said Staver, adding: "Pretending that Christmas doesn't exist is the epitome of insanity." In Leesburg, a woman named Leann stopped at Myers's display as she walked her two dogs past the courthouse. "Freedom of speech and all that, but I think this is wrong," she told AFP. "It's offensive and in-your-face and makes me mad. And I don't even believe in that," the self-avowed atheist said, pointing to the creche. 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