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Editor's Letter

December Intrigue

A

gain, Berkley residents confront their brand of
December dilemma: where to publicly display a
creche once owned by the city. Again, residents
come down on both sides of this highly charged matter of the
manger. Again, the ACLU looms large in the raging debate.
The standoff will culminate in a citywide vote on Nov.6. A
petition by residents brought the bal-
lot question to amend the city charter.
It would compel the city to install a
creche on city hall property from the
Monday following Thanksgiving to the
following Jan. 6.
The Jewish community has more
important concerns than seeking
a toehold in the controversy over
creches on public land as a violation of
church-state separation. But nonpublic
grounds do seem a more palatable spot
for displays that depict Jesus' birth. For
us to remain silent and not oppose the principle of a creche
— the infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph — on city hall property
is to create a slippery slope that could blaze a path for genu-
inely offensive displays by cults on municipal grounds.
So the dispute isn't harmless. It has legs.

people, favor the new creche arrangement to fend off an
expensive legal fight. But some residents remain rankled that
the ACLU disrupted their small town. They say that because
Christmas is a national holiday, celebrating it publicly should
be legal.
Yes, America has a Christian foundation. But it's wrong
to say we were founded as a Christian nation. Even Thomas
Jefferson was skeptical about Christianity and arguably wasn't
Christian. Still, our founding fathers, whatever their individu-
al religious beliefs, adopted a constitution that protected and
promoted religious freedom; thus American Jews have been
allowed to live freely and prosper. Jefferson himself conceived
the famous "wall of separation between church and state'

Election Run-Up
Not surprisingly, the rich multiculturalism of America has
made the public display of creches a white-hot issue.
The ACLU hasn't weighed in this year, obviously laying low
until the Nov. 6 vote. I echo its take on a constitutional man-
date against government involvement in religion although I
don't share its ardor as the self-appointed creche overseer and
its penchant for intimidation through lawsuits.
I keep hearing that a Berkley City Hall creche would have
secularized holiday symbols to make the display comply with
the law. The problem is that there's nothing secular about a
creche. Secular adornment seems out of place by a creche
anyway. The nativity is central to the religious aspect of
Christmas. I don't want to see the scene, significant as it is, on
land home to a government building. Period.
Interestingly, the Birmingham Bloomfield Chai Center
didn't stir any controversy this fall when it erected a privately
funded sukkah in Birmingham's Shain Park. The autumn-
harvest theme of the sukkah probably helped negate public
concern.

At The Core
I don't find a creche itself to be offensive; it has both histori-
cal and religious meaning. Only its placement matters to me.
The nativity looks great outside churches and private homes.
It would raise all sorts of red flags, however, outside a govern-
ment building.
Berkley ballot proponents in Berkley Citizens Vote YES to
Christmas Holiday, with legal support from the Ann Arbor-
based Thomas More Law Center, a nonprofit conservative
Christian organization, argue that U.S. Supreme
Court rulings allow a "secularized" Christmas
The nativity is central to the religious aspect of
holiday display. Such a display might feature the
nativity along with secular ornaments like gift
Christmas. I don't want to see the scene, significant as
packages, colored lights, a "Seasons Greetings"
sign and a Santa Claus figure.
it is, on land home to a government building. Period,
In reality, high court rulings on religious dis-
plays on public property lack the thread of consistency, mak-
Last year, Southfield avoided religious favoritism by remov-
ing them as open to interpretation as the First Amendment's
ing a city-owned menorah from its holiday display. A cha-
Establishment Clause, which governs the relationship between nukiah is a symbol commemorating the miracle of light that
government and religion.
followed Judah Maccabee's military victory over oppression
when Syrian-Greeks defiled the Temple in Jerusalem. It's not a
Enter ACLU
major religious focal point; Chanukah itself is a minor Jewish
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan took Berkley holiday. Still, a city shouldn't own a menorah any more than it
to task last year over the annual creche display outside the
should own a creche.
city hall. Rather than fight the ACLU, the city council chose to
By foregoing a church-state conflict when it comes to gov-
call for giving the plastic-figure creche to the Berkley Clergy
ernment-owned creches, menorahs and other clear religious
Association (BCA) for display on church property. The creche
symbols, the general community can stay focused on more
had taken its familiar spot on Coolidge, south of 12 Mile, for
substantive local issues, including interfaith relationship
23 years until the ACLU decided to get involved.
building, helping the downtrodden and preserving the envi-
The BCA is right: "As an interfaith clergy association, we
ronment. !
take umbrage with the concept that the government should
direct or decide where and when we mark our respective
0 : Would a creche outside your city,
1— •
religious celebrations, and what should be displayed, and how
township or village hall offend you?
N
our various religious symbols are to be used." Signers of the
I—
Z z Does the ACLU's vigilance over public
BCNs 2006 statement included Rabbi Joseph Klein of Temple
O 0 religious displays bother you?
Emanu-El in neighboring Oak Park.
a.
Most of the elected leaders in Berkley, a city of 15,500

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October 25 2007

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