The Knights of Columbus chapter in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is suing after the city demanded a Nativity scene be removed from the town square.
Since the 1930s, the Nativity scene has been placed near the town’s bandstand. The scene was moved in the late 2000s to accommodate construction, according to the Cape Gazette. St. Edmond Catholic Church placed the figurines near the bandstand in 2018, but they were moved at the demand of the city. In 2019, the Knights of Columbus asked for permission to move the scene back to the bandstand or boardwalk, but the request was denied.
Represented by First Liberty, a law firm that is “dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom,” the Knights filed a lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court of Delaware against the city, claiming that the ban is “blatantly unlawful.” First Liberty argued that the policy of banning religious displays in public spaces constitutes “textbook viewpoint discrimination” and is a violation of the First Amendment.
In Lynch v. Donnelly, the Supreme Court ruled that Nativity scenes are permitted on public property because they did not constitute an effort to express “subtle governmental advocacy of a particular religious” view and that the Constitution “affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any.”
