This is the article that appeared in the January/February 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.
By mid-December, we had had it with atheist bullies. That’s why we begged an atheist hate group from Wisconsin, Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), to sue us. They declined.
FFRF registered a complaint about a nativity scene being displayed by the Toledo Fire Department in Toledo, Iowa, outside of Des Moines; they said religious symbols cannot be displayed on public property. City leaders initially gave in and removed the nativity scene.
Toledo Mayor Brian Sokol then decided to surround the crèche with secular symbols, thus pulling the constitutional rug out from under FFRF. They backed off. But we did not.
Every year since the mid-1990s, the Catholic League erects a life-size nativity scene in Central Park. We get a permit from the City of New York’s Parks Department.
We don’t have any secular symbols surrounding our display—no Jack Frost or reindeers. It is purely a religious expression. That is because Central Park is considered a public forum, open to all points of view.
If we were to display a nativity scene on or near City Hall, the seat of government, we would have to include secular symbols; otherwise it might give the impression that the government is endorsing Christianity.
Bill Donohue publicly stated that if FFRF believes it is illegal to display religious symbols on all public property venues, they should sue the Catholic League. We called their bluff—they didn’t have the nerve to do so.
