Lawsuit prompts towns to allow Nativity

Decorated tree during 2002 'Holiday Celebration' at park near Jacksonville, Fla.

Two Florida cities responded to the filing of a federal lawsuit by agreeing to permit a Nativity display at a park they share.

Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach, near Jacksonville, have joint control over a park where a large Jewish Menorah and 25-foot Christmas tree are displayed.

But when local resident Ken Koenig applied to display a private Nativity scene, just 40 inches tall, both towns rejected the request, arguing a Christmas tree and a Menorah are secular symbols while the Nativity scene is religious and, therefore, not allowed.

Koenig, represented by the Florida-based, public-interest legal group Liberty Counsel, filed a federal lawsuit.

A hearing scheduled for tomorrow morning in federal court was canceled, and the Nativity will be displayed from Dec. 12-31.

Prior to filing suit, Atlantic Beach denied Koenig's application in writing. Neptune Beach initially said permission from both cities was required, then legal representatives for the cities were quoted in media saying both cities denied the request.

Koenig later received confirmation of the denial in a letter from Neptune Beach's city attorney then filed the lawsuit Tuesday.

Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, said excluding a private Nativity scene from an open forum where a Christmas tree and a Menorah are displayed is "viewpoint-based discrimination," a clear violation of the First Amendment.

"Celebrating Christmas is constitutional," he said.

Liberty Counsel launched a "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign" that provides resources arguing Christmas is constitutional and offers legal assistance "when governments censor Christmas and blatantly violate the Constitution."

As WorldNetDaily reported Wednesday, the mayor of a Memphis suburb asked the staff of a local library to allow the public display of a full Nativity scene after officials had barred figurines representing Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the wise men, saying their presence would be "inappropriate."

The prohibition by the Memphis Library system resulted in a Nativity scene that included just three farm animals and a shepherd boy.

The controversy arose when a member of the music ministry at a local church submitted an announcement for display on the Bartlett Branch Library's community shelves regarding the church's upcoming Christmas show. Library officials accepted the announcement but told Chambless that she would have to remove the "inappropriate" figures of the baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary and the wise men from an accompanying Nativity scene and limit it to farm animals alone.

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