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In This Year's Christmas Wars, More Cities Eliminate Religious Displays

By Howard M. Friedman

This year's "Christmas Wars" seem to be taking a different shape. In past years, typically a government entity permitted a religious display which was then challenged in court. This year, in a number of cases a governmental entity, after researching the law, has changed past practice and removed, or not included, a religious component. (See prior posting.) The most recent example of this arose last night in Maryville, Tennessee. According to yesterday's Knoxville News, the city of Maryville ended its 22-year tradition of having a local radio personality read the Christmas story from the book of Luke as part of the annual "Illumination of the Greenbelt" festivities. City attorney Melanie Davis concluded the reading was not allowed after an inquiry from a concerned resident.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 08, 2009 (boomark / email).