Residents in a small Maine town fought back Thursday after their town removed a nativity scene that had been there for decades because an atheist group complained it was against the law.
At the city council meeting, over a dozen angry residents defended the manger scene as part of the town's history and called for it to be put back up.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) said the town was violating the First Amendment by displaying the Biblical Christmas scene on public property. Maine chapter president Tom Waddell requested Bucksport put up one of the group's secular signs that celebrated the Winter Solstice and Bill of Rights next to the nativity or remove the manger from public property.
Instead, Bucksport temporarily took down the display at the recommendation of counsel last week over fears of litigation.
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An elderly resident who had lived in the town her whole life said they shouldn't give in to "cancel culture" by taking down the nativity. It's a "historical fact" that Jesus was born, she told the council.
Resident Bob Mercer was one of many people who questioned why they had to accommodate the group's request to begin with, since the person making the complaint wasn't from Bucksport. "Shouldn't he be part of the community [to put up a display]?" Mercer asked.
He called for the town "to stand up for free speech."
"The First Amendment [protects] freedom of religion, not freedom from religion," he added.
Several people brought to the council's attention Supreme Court cases where the high court sided in favor of religious symbols on public property, such as in 2019's American Legion v. American Humanist ruling.
Some called for the town to fight back against what they perceived as religious discrimination.
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"It's time for [the] silent majority to speak. This is a slippery slope, when you start giving these people who didn’t even show up for the meeting [what they requested] simply because they don’t like it," one woman, who said she had lived in Bucksport for 40 years, advised.
David Webster agreed that this fight wasn't just about "a manger scene." "It's not going away," he warned.
Another longtime resident said they were "opening Pandora's box" if they put up the group's poster.
"This is just the beginning," he added, before suggesting the atheist group wasn't interested in expressing their view but "blocking Christian or other religious views," because the town hadn't received complaints about other religious holiday displays over the year.
However, FFRF Maine chapter president Tom Waddell objected to the claim that his organization was anti-Christian in comments to Fox News Digital.
"The Maine Chapter - FFRF does not oppose any religion. We oppose laws that seek to privilege one religious group over another under the guise of ‘freedom of religion.' The practice of religion should not entail discrimination against anyone," Waddell wrote.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation advocates for the separation of church and state.
In 2019, the group complained that patriotic decals featuring "In God we trust" on one Florida county's patrol cars were "inappropriate and exclusionary."
Waddell said his group simply alerted Bucksport that they were required by law to display their holiday display next to the nativity if it remained on public property.
"The Maine Chapter - FFRF did not cause the removal of the nativity scene. We did make the town aware that keeping the nativity scene on public property requires the town to allow other groups to set up their display as well," Waddell said.
Alternatively, they could sell the scene to a church or another private party, which he called a "win-win situation" for everybody.
In the end, the council voted Thursday to put the nativity back up and create a separate space in town devoted to holiday displays where the FFRF could put up their poster.
