Freedom for All Religions?
As nativity scenes popped up for the holiday season, some government groups considered whether or not they should allow these religious symbols to be displayed on government property. In the news as of late have been two groups that said yes. This was conditional to allowing other groups to display their own holiday religious displays.
In the United States, nativities scenes were set up at City Hall in the cities of Olean, NY, and Green Bay, WI. In both cities, the displays were eventually joined by pentacles, permission granted by both city governments to put them there. In both cases, the pentacles were vandalized. The Green Bay pentacle wreath, donated by Circle Sanctuary, was torn down, and the Olean pentacle was run over by a truck. The Olean nativity scene was relocated down the street to the yard of a church.
The Green Bay council received 6 requests to put up displays. After the holiday pentacle was vandalized, the mayor put a moratorium on religious displays outside of city hall until the matter could be discussed. Whether or not the president of the council should have been allowed to put up the nativity in the first place is the question that they considered. After a vote, where the mayor was the tie breaker, the council decided to leave the nativity up through the holiday.
The controversy does not end there. The Freedom from Religion Foundation indicated that they were not satisfied with the decision, and filed a lawsuit against the city at the end of 2007. According to the foundation’s president, plaintiffs on the lawsuit include a Lutheran, a Buddhist, a Unitarian Universalist, a Wiccan and an Episcopalian. The suit alleges that the council president used his office to display the religious symbol, instead of placing it on his personal property.
Tags: News
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