Green Bay, WI – Liberty Counsel has been retained by the City of Green Bay to defend the city’s Nativity display against a baseless lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). A Christmas tree, reindeer, and Santa Claus were positioned in the same context as the Nativity on the front lawn of City Hall.

Following a threatened lawsuit by the anti-religious FFRF, the City Council met December 18 to determine whether to keep the Nativity scene at City Hall. Mayor Schmitt cast the deciding vote to keep the display up until the day after Christmas.

FFRF is the most extreme separationist organization in the country, claiming its members consist of atheists and agnostics. Its co-president, Annie Laurie Gaylor in a threatening letter to an Ohio town derogatively referred to its Nativity as a "shack" and derisively wrote that the display "jarred" the conscience. This is the same atheist organization that unashamedly unveiled its "Imagine No Religion" billboards during Christmas.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld government-sponsored Nativity scenes when displayed in the context of other symbols of the Christmas holiday, such as Santa Claus, reindeer or a Christmas tree. Contrary to the allegations from the FFRF, Buddha has never been an appropriate display to celebrate the state and national legal holiday called Christmas. Liberty Counsel will be filing a response to the FFRF lawsuit.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, stated, "To suggest that a Nativity display is constitutional only if Buddha is perched nearby is absurd. The national and state legal holiday called Christmas is not a World Religions Day. It’s Christmas Day. Christmas is constitutional. The lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation is without merit. If this atheist organization had its way, there would be no religious freedom. In fact, in their would-be world, there would be no religion. The fact is Americans are a religious people who cherish religious freedom and who acknowledge our Nation’s rich religious tradition."