Even though Christmas is over, the War on Christmas is not.
Recently we told you about a Nativity scene placed on the lawn of the Baxter County Courthouse. The display came with a disclaimer from the quorum court specifying that it was put up by local citizens. Last week an atheist group filed a lawsuit against the county over the Nativity scene.
According to the Associated Press, the American Humanist Association has teamed up with a local resident suing for alleged discrimination after the county refused to put a “Happy Solstice” banner up alongside the Nativity. They argue the banner should be permitted, because local residents were allowed to put up a Christmas Nativity scene.
It’s worth pointing out, however, that Christmas is a holiday officially recognized and celebrated at all levels of our government while the Winter Solstice is not. We do not close state and federal offices on “Winter Solstice Day.” Our nation celebrates Christmas. The county courthouse is not obligated to put up every kind of decoration or display people can imagine; it is free to tailor the scope and number of decorations. With that in mind, Baxter County officials ought to be able to argue–as other government officials have in similar cases around the country–that it is not required to put the banner up alongside the Nativity.
