CHICAGO – U.S. Seventh Circuit appellate judges blessed a nativity scene on public ground on Feb. 2, finding a proper balance between it and secular objects next to it.
Circuit judges Amy St. Eve and Diane Wood ruled that Jackson County, Indiana didn’t commit establishment of religion by sponsoring the display.
St. Eve wrote that it fit within “a long national tradition of using the nativity scene in broader holiday displays to celebrate the origins of Christmas, a public holiday.”
Dissenting Circuit Judge David Hamilton wrote, “It’s not as simple as counting whether there are more shepherds and angels than elves and snowmen.”
For many years, the local Lions Club placed the nativity scene on the lawn of the courthouse square in Brownstown, near the town’s Main Street.
The club placed secular items in the background and on other sides of the square.
In 2018, the county rearranged the display after the Freedom from Religion Foundation demanded removal of the nativity scene.
The county instructed the Lions to place all items in one field of view and to preserve the arrangement in future years.
The changes didn’t satisfy county resident Rebecca Woodring, who sued the county at district court in New Albany.
District Judge Tanya Pratt found the display unconstitutional last year and granted a permanent injunction against it.
The county appealed and prevailed.
St. Eve wrote that a governmental practice with historical support might be unconstitutional, “if it is intolerant or discriminatory toward differing views.”
“We see no evidence of that here,” she wrote.
St. Eve didn’t mention Jesus Christ, but dissenter Hamilton identified him as the one whose birth Christians honor at Christmas.
“For some Christians, it can be difficult to accept the secular appropriation of the religious center of Christmas for a holiday that emphasizes shopping along with generosity,” Hamilton wrote.
“For other Christians, it can be difficult to remember that not everyone shares their faith or appreciates the religious roots of the celebration.
“For believers in other faiths, explicit government recognition of the birth of the Christian Messiah may plainly imply an official endorsement of Christian superiority and dominance over their own faiths.”
Hamilton was born in Bloomington, Indiana, 35 miles from Brownstown.