LA judge dismisses suit over park Nativity scenes

November 29, 2012 @ 11:11 pm

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles federal judge on Thursday dismissed a Christian group's lawsuit to force suburban Santa Monica to reopen spaces in a city park to private displays, including Christmas Nativity scenes.

U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins issued the ruling after earlier this month denying an injunction sought by the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee.

Christmastime Nativity scenes had been erected in Palisades Park for decades. Last year, atheists overwhelmed the city's auction process for display sites, winning 18 of 21 slots and triggering a bitter dispute.

The city then banned private, unattended displays at the park.

An attorney for the group says he plans to appeal the ruling.

Collins had said the city was within its constitutional right to eliminate the exemption that had allowed the Nativity at the oceanfront Palisades Park because the change affected all comers _ from Christians to Jews to atheists _ and provided other avenues for public religious speech.

The coalition of churches that had put on the life-sized, 14-booth Nativity display for decades argued the city banned it rather than referee a religious dispute that began three years ago when atheists first set up their message alongside the Christmas diorama.

In her ruling Thursday, Collins said the coalition has other options.

"For instance, plaintiff could erect displays in some public parks around the city (excluding Palisades Park) as part of a one-day community events permit, or plaintiff could erect attended displays in all of the city's public parks," Collins wrote in her 25-page ruling. "Plaintiff raises several arguments to suggest that these alternatives are not adequate, but none is persuasive."

The trouble in Santa Monica began three years ago, when atheist Damon Vix was granted a booth in Palisades Park alongside the story of Jesus Christ's birth.

Vix hung a sign that quoted Thomas Jefferson: "Religions are all alike -- founded on fables and mythologies." The other side read "Happy Solstice." He repeated the display the following year but then upped the stakes significantly.

Vix recruited 10 others last year to inundate the city with applications for displays and the atheists used half their spaces, displaying signs such as one that showed pictures of Poseidon, Jesus, Santa Claus and the devil.

Most of the signs were vandalized and in response the city ended a tradition that began in 1953 and earned Santa Monica one of its nicknames, the City of the Christmas Story.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
More National News
Top Stories

  • Heartstopping
    Daredevils post breathtaking pictures atop Seattle landmarks

  • Snowy Passes
    Escape cold Seattle; go skiing at Crystal Mountain

  • Dirty Wars
    Director Jeremy Scahill says Obama hasn't been fighting a clean war
MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (3)


  • Add A Comment

  • Snout wrote...
    Stupid Christians.
    November 19, 2012 10:56 am
    Parks are meant to be a place for vagrants to sleep and go BM, for drunks to vomit,pee and pass out, for addicts to score, for panhandlers to collect change, for perverts to expose themselves, for pedophiles to scope out children, and for protesters to camp out and whine about productive successful people and also pee and go BM, sleep, score drugs and be perverts. Gee, get with the program, man.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hayduke wrote...
    Two words, Snout: "Establishment Clause."
    November 19, 2012 11:29 am
    End of discussion.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    When the Christians are *actually in the park*, praying, caroling, leafletting, preaching, and all of the other activities still permitted....
    November 19, 2012 4:35 pm
    they should be allowed to have a nativity scene as well. It's a prop for religious speech, and must be allowed under the First Amendment.

    However, just because we recently decided that corporations were people and therefore entitled to free speech, we probably have not decided that plywood cutouts of camels and the Holy Family are people as well. A nativity scene cannot speak. Absent somebody from the church on scene to preach, carol, leaflet, etc, etc, etc (all still permitted) the props belonging to the church should not be stored, erected, maintained, and dismantled at public expense. Let the church goers bring the scene with them, set it up, preach the Christmas Story, and then take it with them when they go.

    If the church wants to have somebody speaking on site, 24/7, for all the time the nativity scene is up, then let it be up 24/7.

    The atheists are a bit more complex. They claim they are not a religion (although they adhere to a system of belief). Atheists can't claim they aren't a religion, and then demand equal time on religious grounds. They are, however, entitled to freedom of speech.

    Good for the goose, good for the gander. If the Christians can't have a nativity scene displayed unless there is a Christian on hand actually speaking, then the atheists should not be able to have an anti-God message or display except during those times when an atheist is on hand to preach non-belief.

    Churches are often located on fairly busy streets, and often have enough of a lawn or landscaped area that there is plenty of room for a nativity scene on their private property. Why not put the nativity scene up on church property, where even more people will see it than in the park and were there is no requirement to let atheists post an anti-Christian message immediately alongside?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }