First Amendment dispute pits nonprofit against Nativity display

The Three Wise Men are depicted on the nativity scene at Christ Church Cathedral on Monument Circle in Downtown Indianapolis. A similar Christian Nativity scene on the courthouse lawn in Brookville, Ind., has pitted town residents against a Wisconsin group dedicated to preserving the separation of church and state.(Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star file photo)

Every year for the past five decades, about a dozen Brookville residents build a Nativity scene outside the county courthouse.

They use donated materials and repaint the figurines using money from a donation jar. Shortly after Thanksgiving, volunteers put up the display on the courthouse lawn, and it stays there until early January.

Brookville resident Wayne Monroe came up with the idea 50 years ago. Everybody loves it, he said.

For them, it has become a tradition, a celebration of Christianity. Franklin County Commissioner Tom Wilson said erecting the Nativity scene is an expression of residents' constitutional rights of freedom of religion and speech.

Others disagree.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wisc.-based nonprofit, has been sending letters to the county commissioners since 2010, asking the county to take down the "unlawful" display from public property. A second letter, sent in December 2013, says the Nativity scene is a constitutional violation that shows that the government endorses one religion over another.

Allowing the display to be erected each year shows that the Franklin County Commissioners prefer "Christianity over all minority religion and non religion," said Sam Grover, staff attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation. "That's not appropriate."

The county commissioners ignored the letters. The volunteers continued putting up the display every year. Others advocated for keeping the town's tradition.

An online campaign website called "Save Brookville Indiana Courthouse Nativity Scene" that was started shortly after the foundation first contacted the county commissioners has gained more than 10,000 members. Supporters also have started a change.org petition to keep the display on the courthouse lawn on Main Street in Brookville, which is about 75 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

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First Amendment dispute pits nonprofit against Nativity display