Why should a Christian scene depicting the birth of Jesus be placed in the median of a public road?
It has no business being there, said a Foundation complaint in 2008 to Macomb County, Mich. The county Road Commission agreed and told the Warren, Mich., man who put up the display that he had done so without a permit and had to remove it.
Now the man, John Satawa, has filed a federal lawsuit against the county to get the nativity scene back on public property. Satawa said his family has put it there for 63 years, except for one year when there was road construction. The county denied Satawa’s permit request on March 9 to place the sign there this year, his lawsuit said.
“It boils down to maintaining a tradition that’s been going on for six decades and one letter received from an out-of-state radical organization,” attorney Brian Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center told Foxnews.com.
The Thomas More Law Center filed the suit, which asked for an emergency injunction so the display could go up immediately, on Satawa’s behalf.
“Once again, I’ll say it: People can adore the baby Jesus in church, in their homes or anywhere they like, as long as it’s not on public property,” said Foundation Co-President Dan Barker.
“What part of ‘public property’ do they not understand?”
