What Began In Russia Will End Up In America

LAW OF THE LAND

Mall to Christians: God talk banned!

Rules challenged as violating 'principles of free expression'

---

Posted: January 30, 2010
12:10 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Roseville, Calif., shopping mall

Arguments have moved to the appellate court level in a California case in which a man talking to two willing strangers in a shopping mall was arrested because the subject of the conversation was God.

The case developed several years ago when a youth pastor was arrested at the Galleria Mall in Roseville, Calif., for having a conversation about religion with two other people.

Matthew Snatchko, who works with youth at his church, was interrupted in the middle of a conversation by a security guard. A second guard joined the confrontation and told Snatchko he was being placed under citizen's arrest for "trespassing."

The pastor said he agreed to leave but instead, the guards grabbed him, roughly shoved him against a storefront window and handcuffed him tightly enough to draw blood. Snatchko later was taken to the police station where he was booked on charges of battery and trespassing.

A short time later the charges were dropped, but officials with the Pacific Justice Institute decided to pursue a case against the mall over the impact of the policy on free speech.

After a Placer County Superior Court judge in 2008 affirmed the mall's regulations, an appeal was launched to the 3rd Appellate District in Sacramento, and the briefs have just now been completed for that court's review.

"It's surprising that mall owners think they can arrest patrons for engaging in casual conservations," said PJI Staff Attorney Matthew McReynolds. "While a 'don't talk to strangers' rule may be good for kids, enforcing it against adults is absurd, and we think it violates California's free speech guarantees."

The case is being pursued under the state's constitutional provision for free speech, which extends protections to private locations, because the 1st Amendment to the Constitution deals directly with government restrictions.

McReynolds said had the case been argued in federal court, it would have had to focus on the discriminatory nature of the mall's restrictions.

"Singling out religious speech for punishment violates our most basic principles of free expression," said PJI President Brad Dacus. "If anyone can be arrested for wearing a Christian T-shirt or mentioning God in a shopping mall, we have lost not only our freedom, but our sanity as a society."

PJI affiliate attorney Timothy Smith, of the Sacramento firm McKinley & Smith, served pro bono as Snatchko's lead counsel in the trial court and continues to serve as part of the appellate team.

McReynolds told WND the case focuses on the "draconian" limits set by the mall that were used to arrest the youth pastor. While those charges were dropped, the result of that case wasn't a court-adjudicated precedent that could be used to protect others.

He said while reasonable regulations certainly are allowed, such as volume limits, targeting speech for banishment because of its subject is not.

"What they cannot do and did in this case [is target] political and religious speech," he said. "They originally chose to arrest the youth pastor for striking up a casual conversation. Since then, they've dug in their heels and are standing firm in their belief they can do whatever they want."

Oral arguments haven't been scheduled by the court in the case, and there's no time frame available yet for when a decision might be reached, McReynolds said.

But PJI's brief to the court explained the issue.

"The underlying interest of defendants clearly relates to content. While the act of speaking is not generally prohibited, the act of speaking a particular message without a permit is," the brief said. "Defendants argue that if they do not disagree with the message of the speech, and if the applications

are accepted on a first come, first selected basis, the regulation is content neutral."

"Even if the defendants determined that the recipients of the speech might be uncomfortable due to the speech, such a basis for restricting plaintiffs speech is not content neutral."

The mall's regulations, besides disallowing commercial speech and speech about religion or politics, also include an exception for those subjects if a speaker knew the other person previously.

"Under the exemption, the plaintiff would have been allowed to have the same conversation in the same exact place if only he had previously met the people with whom he was speaking," the brief challenged.

"The notion that an individual is not allowed to speak with a stranger about a non-commercial topic without first having their speech examined is preposterous, and is truly silencing in every sense of the word," the brief said.

The mall's rules require "a submission of the subject matter of the spoken or written speech," the brief continued. "Defendants' licensing process as a whole has a great deal to do with speakers' message. Not only does the application process require an examination of the subject matter, but plaintiff was actually referred to the licensing application process only after the security guard listened to the content of plaintiff's speech."

Officials with Westfield Group, the corporation that owns the mall, did not respond to a WND message requesting comment.

The company's website

says it entered the U.S. market

in 1977 by purchasing a single shopping center, and today has 55 centers across the U.S. in key markets such as northern California, Chicago, southern Florida, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, San Diego and Washington.

"The Westfield Group is the world's largest listed retail property group by equity market capitalization. The Group has interests in and operates a global portfolio of 119 high-quality regional shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, valued at more than $62 billion. Westfield works with over 23,600 retailers across more than 10 million square meters of retail space," it boasts.

Pacific Justice said Snatchko originally was confronted during a casual conversation with two other shoppers about faith when a store employee listened to the conversation and alerted mall security guards.

Besides the ban on conversations with strangers about religion or politics, the mall also bans any clothing with religious or political messages.

Updated January 20, 2010 Brown Win Forces Democrats to Re-Evaluate Health Care Reform Game Plan

Scott Brown

Democrats are being forced to re-evaluate their plans for health care reform after Republican Scott Brown's victory for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts made clear that independent and even many Democratic voters are concerned about health insurance reforms being debated in Washington.

Brown's win Tuesday is a colossal hit to Democrats, since it will break the party's 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate at a time when health care reform is in its final stages. Brown has vowed to vote against the bill if he gets the chance.

Though Democrats have discussed ways to fast-track the legislation so as to send it to President Obama's desk before Brown gets sworn in, cracks in the Democrats' resolve started to show Tuesday night.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said it would "only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Brown is seated."

Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., a fierce advocate for health care reform, also said it might be time to take a time-out on health care reform and focus on jobs.

"It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to take a step back and say we're going to pivot, do a jobs thing, and try to include some health care things as a part of that," he said. "If we were struggling and making the bill worse with a 60-vote Senate majority, I don't see how we make it better with 59."

Interestingly, both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stressed the importance of job creation and the economy as well in written statements reacting to Brown's win.

But the Democrats do have options on health care.

Before polls closed, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., outlined a combination of tactics to get what his party wants out of health care reform.

First, he said the House could simply approve the Senate bill, sending it straight to Obama's desk.

Then, Durbin said, the Senate could make changes to the bill by using a process known as "reconciliation," a tactic that would allow Democrats to adjust parts of health care reform with just a 51-vote majority.

"We could go to something called 'reconciliation', which is in the weeds procedurally, but would allow us to modify that health care bill by a different process that doesn't require 60 votes, only a majority," Durbin said. "So that is one possibility there."

Though House Democrats have major misgivings about the Senate version, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Tuesday suggested they'd be willing to consider approving the Senate bill intact, if the alternative is no bill at all. A majority of Democrats in that chamber are opposed to many provisions in the Senate-passed bill, including the controversial tax on high-cost insurance plans which the unions are vehemently against.

After Brown's victory, Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., said the House should just take up the Senate bill.

"I haven't completely analyzed it myself. But if that's the only option in town, that's what we ought to do," Hill said.

Democrats probably have until early February until the Massachusetts election is certified.

Brown repeatedly charged that Democrats were planning to delay his certification, Reid said in his statement that Brown would be seated "as soon as the proper paperwork has been received."

Reid said that while Brown's victory "changes the political math," he hopes Brown will join Democrats in "strengthening our economy, creating good-paying jobs and ensuring all Americans can access affordable health care."

"Regardless of the size of their minority caucus, Senate Republicans have always had an obligation to join us in governing our nation through these difficult times. Today's election doesn't change that. In fact it is now more important than before for Republicans to work with us rather than against us if we are to find common ground that improves Americans' lives," Reid said.

Health care reform supporters outside of Capitol Hill said the state race should not deter Democrats from finishing the job on health care reform.

"Tuesday's vote was not a referendum on health care reform. It was a referendum on a particular candidate in a climate in which people, hard pressed by the economy, are impatient for change. When it comes to the need to make good health care affordable, nothing is different today than it was yesterday. Congress must keep going and finish reform right," said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now.

Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern said the vote should be a "wake-up call" for Democrats that "now is the time for bold action."

"The reason Ted Kennedy's seat is no longer controlled by a Democrat is clear: Washington's inability to deliver the change voters demanded in November 2008. Make no mistake, political paralysis resulted in electoral failure," Stern said.

Reconciliation, though, is not easy under any circumstances. Any measure that is passed under the process requires 51 votes for passage, but that measure's authors must pass strict legislative tests to show the bill deals only with taxes and spending to bring the legislation in line with the budget -- a move that its creators made back in 1974 to keep extraneous provisions from being passed under this expedited process.

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., the primary point person in the Senate for reconciliation matters as the top Republican on the Budget Committee, has called this "Chicago-style politics" and has vowed to raise scores of objections, called "points of order." There are about 13 different ways Republicans can challenge Democrats, and nearly all of these will require votes.

Durbin, in Chicago, said Democrats "haven't given up on finding other options. I hope some of the Republican senators who have at least been in conversations with us in the past will join us in passing health care reform."

But that's not too likely. Reid could possibly have pushed away the only Republican in that chamber, moderate Olympia Snowe of Maine, open to working with the Democrats on health care. She told The New York Times that she had "no intention of ever working anything out," calling it "a waste of time dealing with her."

CHRIST IS BORN ! - GLORIFY HIM !

THE NATIVITY ICON

The Gospel In Color

The Nativity of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

Icons are not works of art. They all tell a story.

Notice that Joseph the Betrothed is off to the bottom left. This is his proper position in the Nativity icon. Think of the written account - Joseph the Betrothed is righteous and protects the Theotokos and the Christ Child, but he is not involved in the miracle of the incarnation of the Son of God. The old man speaking to him represents the devil bringing new doubts to Joseph. Some angels are looking on pondering the mystery of the incarnation. Puzzled, by the Divine economy, they reach out to their God with outstretched arms and hands in order to aid their creator but covering their hands with their garments because they better than we understand that "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). How can they touch Him Who made space and time and now has in some way, foreign to them, He has entered into His Creation.

An angel looks down, in making the proclamation to the shepherds in their fields. The two women on the right are the midwives which our pious Tradition says Joseph summoned. This is shown here to indicate that Jesus was born in the normal way and would have needed washing, as a non-divine human baby would. The real miracle is that the Theotokos suffered no birth pains and remained a virgin both before and after giving birth.

Notice that the manger is like a casket, and his swaddling clothes are very much like the grave clothes shown in the icon of the myrrh-bearing women. Notice that over the Christ Child is IC and XC - the first two letters in Greek for Jesus and the first two letters in Greek for Christ. Also notice that the letters within the halo of the Christ Child are formed in a Cross shape and stand for the Divine statement: I AM HE WHO IS.

The Magi are depicted to the left of the Virgin and Divine Christ Child who are depicted correctly as within a cave. Anyone who has been to the Church of The Nativity in Bethlehem at once realizes that the altar area is directly above this cave and you descend from the Church building into this cave. It is still quite normal in Palestine for people to use caves as places to corral their animals for the night. In all truth our God was "Born in a Cave and Laid in a Manger for our sake" (Priest's Blessing or doxology for Nativity) And what is a manger? It is a trough or open box for livestock to feed or fodder. Our open American Nativity Scenes don't quite depict this reality and I for one, the first time I was blessed to venerate the Holy Nativity Site of Christ our God was more than perplexed at this. Only after converting to Orthodoxy did I even start to grasp the greatness of this Divine condescension.

The tree below the cave is the "Tree of Jesse" from prophesy, which says that a shoot will sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse (the father of King David) “ And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” Isaiah 11:1 (KJV)

The ox and the ass are also from Old Testament prophecy, always shown near the Christ Child, providing warmth from their breath: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Isaiah 1:3 (KJV)

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

A Sermon by Saint John of Kronstadt on the Nativity of Christ Our True God

Saint John of Kronstadt

The Word became flesh; that is, the Son of God, co-eternal with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, became human – having become incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. Oh, wondrous, awesome and salvific mystery! The One Who had no beginning took on a beginning according to humanity; the One without flesh assumed flesh. God became man – without ceasing to be God. The Unapproachable One became approachable to all, in the aspect of an humble servant. Why, and for what reason, was there such condescension [shown] on the part of the Creator toward His transgressing creatures – toward humanity which, through an act of its own will had fallen away from God, its Creator?

It was by reason of a supreme, inexpressible mercy toward His creation on the part of the Master, Who could not bear to see the entire race of mankind – which, He, in creating, had endowed with wondrous gifts – enslaved by the devil and thus destined for eternal suffering and torment.

And the Word became flesh!...in order to make us earthly beings into heavenly ones, in order to make sinners into saints; in order to raise us up from corruption into incorruptibility, from earth to heaven; from enslavement to sin and the devil – into the glorious freedom of children of God; from death – into immortality, in order to make us sons of God and to seat us together with Him upon the Throne as His royal children.

Oh, boundless compassion of God! Oh, inexpressible wisdom of God! Oh, great wonder, astounding not only the human mind, but the angelic [mind] as well!

Let us glorify God! With the coming of the Son of God in the flesh upon the earth, with His offering Himself up as a sacrifice for the sinful human race, there is given to those who believe the blessing of the Heavenly Father, replacing that curse which had been uttered by God in the beginning; they are adopted and receive the promise of an eternal inheritance of life. To a humanity orphaned by reason of sin, the Heavenly Father returns anew through the mystery of re-birth, that is, through baptism and repentance. People are freed of the tormenting, death-bearing authority of the devil, of the afflictions of sin and of various passions.

Human nature is deified for the sake of the boundless compassion of the Son of God; and its sins are purified; the defiled are sanctified. The ailing are healed. Upon those in dishonor are boundless honor and glory bestowed.

Those in darkness are enlightened by the Divine light of grace and reason.

The human mind is given the rational power of God – we have the mind of Christ, (I Corinthians 2:16) says the Holy apostle Paul. To the human heart, the heart of Christ is given. The perishable is made immortal. Those naked and wounded by sin and by passions are adorned in Divine glory. Those who hunger and thirst are sated and assuaged by the nourishing and soul-strengthening Word of God and by the most pure Body and Divine Blood of Christ. The inconsolable are consoled. Those ravaged by the devil have been – and continue to be – delivered.

What, then, O, brethren, is required of us in order that we might avail ourselves of all the grace brought unto us from on high by the coming to earth of the Son of God? What is necessary, first of all, is faith in the Son of God, in the Gospel as the salvation-bestowing heavenly teaching; a true repentance of sins and the correction of life and of heart; communion in prayer and in the mysteries [sacraments]; the knowledge and fulfillment of Christ’s commandments. Also necessary are the virtues: Christian humility, alms-giving, continence, purity and chastity, simplicity and goodness of heart.

Let us, then, O brothers and sisters, bring these virtues as a gift to the One Who was born for the sake of our salvation – let us bring them in place of the gold, frankincense and myrrh which the Magi brought Him, as to One Who is King, God, and Man, come to die for us. This, from us, shall be the most-pleasing form of sacrifice to God and to the Infant Jesus Christ. Amen.

Translated into English by G. Spruksts, from the Russian text appearing in Chapter 2 of "Solntse Pravdy: O Zhizni i Uchenii Gospoda Nashego, Iisusa Khrista" ["The Sun of Righteousness: On the Life and Teaching of Our Lord, Jesus Christ"], by Protopriest [Saint] Ioann [John] (Sergiev) of Kronstadt, pp. 4-6. English-language translation copyright © 1983, 1996 by The Saint Stefan of Perm' Guild, The Russian Cultural Heritage Society, and the Translator. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission from "KITEZH: The Journal of the Russian Cultural Heritage Society," Vol. 12, No. 4 (48).