The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s secular Winter Solstice exhibit is once again ready for viewing in New Hampshire’s capital city.
For the fourth successive year, FFRF members have put up a display honoring the Bill of Rights and our secular government in Concord City Plaza. The exhibit depicts Founders Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, as well as the Statue of Liberty, gazing in adoration at a “baby” Bill of Rights in a manger.
The sign on the Bill of Rights nativity reads:
At this season of the Winter Solstice,
Join us in honoring the Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791, which reminds us that there can be no religious freedom without the freedom to dissent.
Keep religion and government separate!
As can be seen in the photo, FFRF’s secular exhibit is right next to a traditional nativity scene. That’s the reason the state/church watchdog places these “non-holy” displays in cities around the country: to ensure secular representation alongside the religious depictions that are often found in public spaces Thanksgiving onward.
“If there’s going to be religion in governmental forums at this time of year, then there has to be ‘room at the inn’ for nonreligious points of view,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “Christians don’t own the season.”
FFRF extends thanks to member Jack Shields and other local members for their activism in organizing the annual display, which will be available to the public for viewing until New Year’s Day.
FFRF is a national nonprofit organization with more than 35,000 members across the country, including members in New Hampshire. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
