Nonprofits working together to install record number of State Capitol Nativity scenes
Two nonprofits are working together to help private citizen groups set up another record number of Nativity scenes on the grounds of state capitols this Advent season.
Forty-three state capitols are slated to display Nativity scenes this Christmas, according to a press release from the nonprofit Thomas More Society, which noted they are assisting the American Nativity Scene committee in the endeavor.
This year's number matches last year's record-high tally of state capitol grounds that were adorned with Nativity scenes, also known as "crèches."
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The Chicago-based law firm Thomas More Society, which has fought many high-profile religious freedom cases, noted that their attorneys have been working pro bono to ensure that anyone who wants to sponsor a Nativity scene at their state capitol is permitted to do so under the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Thomas Olp explained in a statement that it is erroneous to claim that government entities are not permitted to exhibit a religious display.
“The law is clear," Olp said. "Government entities may erect and maintain celebrations of the Christmas holiday—or allow citizens to do so on government property, including Nativity scenes, as long as a crèche’s sole purpose is not to promote its religious content, and it is placed in context with other symbols of the season as part of an effort to celebrate the public Christmas holiday through traditional symbols."
Tom Brejcha, who serves as Thomas More Society president and chief counsel, told The Christian Post he believes the Nativity scenes at state capitols are important "because it's an exercise of fundamental constitutional rights that, if not exercised, are going to be lost or forgotten about."
He said the adversaries against the state capitol crèches "are few, and bordering on non-existent," though he noted "a lot of official hesitancy and inertia sometimes in unexpected places."
"The complication has been not so much the obstacle to putting [the Nativity scenes] up, but the exercise of free speech rights by other groups who put up some horrendous displays in the same public space," Brejcha explained, singling out satanic groups especially as "the worst offenders."
Satanic mockeries of Nativity scenes have made headlines in recent years in places such as Illinois, where in 2021, members from that state's chapter of The Satanic Temple installed a statue of baby Baphomet swaddled in a manger in the Illinois State Capitol rotunda. Another year featured a “Snaketivity” statue depicting a serpent coiling around Eve's hand to offer her the forbidden fruit.
Brejcha told CP that his response to the satanic displays has been to let them put it up, because it provides a stark contrast to the message of the Nativity scenes his organization is supporting.
"That's what free speech is all about," he said. "What's the message behind the Satan display? It's the opposite of the Nativity display, and it underscores the beauty, serenity, sanctity of the Nativity. Birth, new life, beautiful divine infant on the one hand; on the other, Beelzebub — this symbol of death, destruction, and everything that one would abhor."
Brejcha added that his firm has considered the possibility of legal ways that time, place, and manner restrictions could potentially be used against the satanic displays, though he said their more immediate goal is to get God-honoring Nativity scenes in all 50 states.
"The message of hope delivered by the Baby Jesus celebrates the joy of new life,” American Nativity Scene President Ed O’Malley said in a statement about their movement. “This troubled world can benefit from more hope and more joy.”
The state capitols that featured Nativity scenes last year were: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
