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Article: Sacred Symbols: Public or Private?(issues with nativity scenes)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- December 18, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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EVERY HOLIDAY SEASON since 1968, people in Jersey City, N.J., could expect to see a nativity scene and symbols used by other religions in front of City Hall. Every holiday season until last year, that is.
Last year, after a four-year legal battle, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) persuaded a federal judge to tell Jersey City to take the religious displays down. The ACLU argued having religious symbols on public property mixes religion with government, something that the U.S. Constitution prohibits.
Using this argument, the ACLU has successfully removed religious symbols from public grounds across the country. But many people feel that the ACLU ...