Courthouse Nativity scene draws ACLU questions
12/18/2003
Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky says it has received complaints about a Nativity scene on the Oldham County courthouse lawn and wants county officials to clarify their policies on public use of the courthouse square.
The living Nativity has been a tradition of Grace Baptist Church since 1990. The Nativity scene goes up in early December and stays throughout the month as part of the annual Light Up La Grange festival. A sign on the display lists the church's name, address and telephone number.
This is the first public debate over the church's Nativity scene.
The ACLU says the Nativity scene raises serious constitutional questions. A Dec. 9 letter the organization sent to county officials said issues of free speech and separation of church and state may be at stake.
The ACLU said if the display was government-sponsored - the county says it isn't - it would have to come down.
In that case, the ACLU letter says, there are two options: One is requiring prior permission for displays; the other is allowing individuals and organizations to place displays without seeking permission.
Oldham officials are telling the ACLU to submit a request to put up its own display.
Judge-Executive Mary Ellen Kinser asked Fiscal Court for direction on how to respond Tuesday, and, without taking a vote, all eight magistrates agreed that she should ask David Friedman, the ACLU's general counsel, if the organization wanted to submit a request to put up a display.
Kinser said that she told Friedman Wednesday that the request should include information about the display, how long it would be up and where the group would like it to be.
Friedman would not confirm any discussions and would talk only about the group's general position on such issues.
"When governments open a forum for private speech, they can't limit the content of that speech in that forum," he said. "When government allows an outside group to have a display, it must allow other outside groups to have a display. If an outside group has a Nativity scene on the lawn, and in our view of the law Oldham County, having opened up that lawn, must allow others who want to speak and put up displays to do so.
"As long as Oldham County does that, we believe it can comply with the law," he said. If it doesn't do that, "they have a free-speech problem."
Kinser said that she told Friedman that she had received no complaints from Oldham citizens about the Nativity scene, and that he had declined to name the people who complained so that she could verify that they lived in the county.
Both Kinser and County Attorney John Fendley said the county for years has allowed various organizations to use the courthouse lawn - from nonprofit associations holding yard sales to groups who picketed or demonstrated. It has no written policies on use of the lawn, however.
Dave Woosley, pastor of Grace Baptist, said the church wants to remind people of the importance of the holiday season and that "it's all about Christ. It's not about material things, not about buying and selling."
He called the ACLU "anti-God and anti-religious."
"We're not going to start a fight but we're not going to back up from one either," Woosley said. "We're up there to portray what Christmas is really all about and mind our own business. The ACLU needs to mind their own business. Stick with civil liberties and not religious liberties."
Information from: The Courier-Journal
How typical. Someone whines to the ACLU, and is too cowardly to make their identity known.
I really like this Mr. Woosley guy.