December 21, 2011
Thousands of residents of Athens, Texas, gathered at the courthouse to protest an effort to remove a Nativity scene from the town square, OneNewsNow.com reports. After the Freedom From Religion Foundation asked that the Nativity scene be removed and replaced by a "winter solstice" banner, about 5,000 people attended Saturday's rally, which one pastor said was prompted by "the beginning of persecution of Christianity in our nation." A county judge says no federal laws are being broken and that the Nativity scene will remain.