This Indiana Nativity scene will have the Bill of Rights, not baby Jesus

Following a tradition of the past five decades, a Nativity scene featuring life-size figurines of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three wise men will be on display outside the Franklin County courthouse this coming holiday.

But new this year? People walking by the courthouse on Main Street in downtown Brookville also will see the Statue of Liberty, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson huddled around a manger on the courthouse lawn. Baby Jesus is absent in that display; instead, the manger is holding the Bill of Rights. The display will be erected on Sunday.

The county is allowing the nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation to erect a display celebrating the "nativity" of the Bill of Rights. Other secular displays, such as winter solstice banners, also will appear on the courthouse lawn.

The mixture of religious and secular displays that will be outside the Franklin County courthouse from November to January is the result of a monthslong legal battle that accused the county of favoring one religion over another — a violation of the Establishment Clause — by having a Nativity scene prominently displayed on the lawn. About a month after the county was sued, officials enacted an ordinance allowing residents to erect their own displays — religious or not — outside the courthouse.

A federal judge later dismissed the lawsuit.

Judge tosses ACLU suit over Indiana Nativity scene

The new ordinance requires Franklin County residents who want to erect a display on the courthouse lawn to apply for a permit. The applications will be approved regardless of what message the display promotes.

As of Nov. 18, nine applications have been approved by the county. That includes Wayne Monroe, who has led the effort to place a Nativity scene for the past five decades. Steve Kristoff, one of the people who sued the county, will place two banners celebrating winter solstice. The ordinance only allows those from Franklin County to apply, so a local resident applied on behalf of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Franklin County Commissioner Tom Wilson said local Baptist churches and the Metamora Church of God in Laurel also applied and were approved to erect their own religious displays.

Sam Grover, staff attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said as long as the county allows religious displays on public property, the group will work to make sure that atheist voices also are represented.

Elsewhere in Indiana, Concord Community Schools in Elkhart County took a similar approach after the school district was sued over its longstanding tradition of having a live Nativity scene as part of its annual Christmas concert. In addition to the Nativity scene and Bible readings, the event will cover the history of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, according to The Elkhart Truth newspaper.

Questions of whether a Nativity scene or any other religious symbol should be placed on public property has been a controversial topic. Similar legal battles that pit someone's religious liberty and free speech rights against the separation of church and state also are happening elsewhere in the country.

Most recently, a federal judge in Arkansas ruled that a Nativity scene on the Baxter County courthouse lawn is unconstitutional and said the county must open the space to other viewpoints, according to The Arkansas Times.

The city of Wadena in Minnesota decided to sell a Nativity scene that has been on display on a public park for many years, instead of fighting a possible lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the display, The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.

Franklin County also is facing another lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of a Massachusetts-based group called The Satanic Temple. Court records show parties are working toward a settlement.

Satanic Temple files suit in dispute over Brookville Nativity display

Call Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @kristine_guerra.