Judge Sides With Atheists, Rules City Can Ban Nativity Scenes

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/judge_sides_with_atheists_rules_city_can_ban_nativity_scenes_20121120/

Judge Sides With Atheists, Rules City Can Ban Nativity Scenes
Posted on Nov 20, 2012


A federal judge Monday ruled that Santa Monica, Calif., may ban seasonal displays in parks and other public places, including the prominent Nativity scenes that are put up every holiday season in the city’s Palisades Park. The tentative ruling was a victory for atheists, who brought the lawsuit against the city.

“The atheists won on this,” said attorney William J. Becker Jr., who represented the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee. He added that the outcome marked “the erosion of First Amendment liberty for religious speech.”

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, had a different take. “Religion is innately divisive and just doesn’t belong in public parks,” she said. “There are tax-exempt churches on every other corner. Why isn’t that good enough?”

More from Gawker:

The Santa Monica Nativity Scene Committee, which has been staging the scenes for almost sixty years, has promised to appeal the decision, because this is a fight that will continue forever, long after every living human descendant has forgotten what a nativity is.

This, of course, is only the beginning in what is sure to be a series of brutal escalations in the Christmas Wars. Both sides will issue desperate, violent salvos in an effort to maintain their eternal brinkmanship. Everyone will protest everyone else’s courtrooms and churches. It won’t be long before we start to see nativity scenes that are able to offer active resistance against any attempts at removal.

[Angry Dragon]

1. It is not an atheist win ........ it is a win for all people

[aandegoons]

2. We had a blow up in a local city about this.

The city finally made it o.k. to put up religious symbols on city property. A local person complained and said they should allow any religious symbols with holidays during the season. They agreed and several different religions put up displays.

The following week someone went and ran over all the non=christian displays with a truck.

The city no longer allows religious displays on public property.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

3. The War on Festivus?

[Warren Stupidity]

4. It was the Christian zealots and the city council who ended the tradition.

Atheists and other non-Christian groups were fine with the lottery system that opened up access to people of all faiths in an equitable manner. The religious zealots were outraged at having to share public space with others.

[MineralMan]

5. From what I understand, the nativity scenes there

were all put up behind wire mesh fences to prevent vandalism. The Holy Family behind bars, so to speak.

Government is going to have to allow all faith groups and even no faith groups to put up displays, or allow none at all. It is that simple.

Personally, I want to see some hellfire and brimstone church put up a display from an illustration of Hell in Dante's Inferno. Now there's an inducement to get saved, for sure. This one would be good: