Could Cuccinelli's opinion backing religious displays lead to lawsuits?

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli ruled this week that displays featuring the birth of Jesus aren't automatically prohibited from public land in Virginia, provided that local leaders allow displays that don't favor a single religion or sect.

Cuccinelli wrote in the opinion that religious and holiday displays cannot be banned outright - but they have to have a certain balance and context.

“the County is free to communicate its own recognition of holidays, including Christmas, as long as overtly Christian symbols are balanced with other religious and secular ones in a way that communicates to reasonable, informed observers that the County is not making a religious statement.”

Cuccinelli's legal reasoning is correct - according to the folks at the American Civil Liberties Union, but this is a very fine line spokesman Kent Willis explains. Here are some of the tricky issues pointed out by Willis.

In his opinion, the attorney general also addresses the more nebulous legal issues that arise when the government itself puts displays on public property that include religious symbols. The Supreme Court has ruled that the government may not erect displays that are overtly religious, but that it can erect displays that incorporate religious expression into a primarily secular context. Thus, it is impermissible for the government to place a lone crèche in front of a courthouse, yet permissible for the same crèche to be put in the same place if it is surrounded by a menorah, a Santa Claus and several reindeer. In the end, it all depends on whether a person viewing the scene would interpret it as religious or secular.

We advise local governments planning to celebrate holidays that may be associated with a particular religion to proceed with caution and to seek the advice of an attorney skilled in First Amendment law. The best way to protect religious freedom is to keep the government neutral as regards religion, neither promoting nor inhibiting expressions of faith. Anytime the government decides to create its own displays containing religious expression, it runs the risk of unconstitutionally endorsing religion.

But that wasn't strong enough for the Americans United for Separation of Church and State who are warning that trying to thread the needle of allowing religious displays without picking sides could lead to legal tangles. Executive director Rev. Barry W. Lynn had this to offer about the opinion.

Lynn said it is particularly repugnant that the attorney general is joining the Religious Right’s annual campaign to impose religion on all Americans at Christmas.

“Cuccinelli is turning Christmas, a holiday sacred to many, into another front in the culture war,” said Lynn. “That’s deplorable and about as far from the spirit of the season as you can get.

“If Cuccinelli wants to see a Nativity scene, why doesn’t he put one in his front yard at home?” Lynn asked. “He should not try to impose his personal religious beliefs on all Virginians through government action.”

Considering the level-headed way that the country is discussing a mosque and community center in New York City at the moment, it's not a far leap. 

How are local leaders - especially in more urban areas like Northern Virginia - supposed to juggle the potential for displays involving Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, Mormons, Scientologists and whoever I missed?

More frightful is the potential public reaction to displays touting secular beliefs, like perish the thought what happens if perhaps folks who don't believe in a higher power want to trumpet their holiday from public land. Should they be allowed to celebrate the winter solstice with a banner hailing science as the great creator?

Comments

[James "turbo" Cohen]

I stand with Cuccinelli. I am jewish but I have never been offended or in opposition to nativity scene's or the delightful traditions that enrich American culture during the Christmas season. I joined with a choir group practice at a church a few times and sang Christmas songs.. the chior from the church next to my former synagogue would take your breath away with their phenominal voices singing in fluent hebrew in our temple..

Merry Christmas. Happy Channukah. Love em both. Keep em both.. Thank you Cooch! Have a blessed day.

[Richard Smith]

Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday observed mostly on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. The December 25 date was selected by the church in Rome in the early fourth century. I am sure out of the 11 months left on our calendar there is room for other religions and cults to celebrate a holiday.
Allow the other religions and cults a designated holiday date other then Christmas to celebrate their beliefs. Therefore, this will allow different religions and cults to display their icons on their specific date instead of mingling them all together. Could the Eastern religions and cults celebrate their holiday on the day that is celebrated in their country?