We don't even have Halloween out of the way yet and it's already time to start in on the annual "Christmas Wars", pitting church-state common sense against the warm and fuzzy feelings some apparently get from displaying religious holiday symbols on government property. First up? Macomb County, Michigan, where permission to place a Nativity scene in a road median was denied, citing religious freedom concerns.
John Satawa of Warren filed a federal suit Friday saying the Macomb County Road Commission is denying his right to the free exercise of his religion, The Detroit News reported Tuesday. He is represented by the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, named after the patron saint of lawyers.
Robert Hoepfner, the county highway engineer, wrote Satawa's lawyer in March saying he would not get permission this year to put the Nativity scene on the median of Mound Road. Hoepfner said a specifically religious display on county property violates the First Amendment establishment clause.
Let the games begin!
