Welcome to Santa Monica...

city where you can't "perform" for money on the Promenade without a permit, where the old signage from a famed deli remains even though the building is now a bank (to recognize history apparently), and where people aren't satisfied with the return of the nativity scenes.

For decades, Palisades Park was the home to an annual display of the Nativity displayed in large dioramas during the holidays.  Until last year, when atheists demanded access so they might put up their own displays.  The city developed a lottery and many of the spaces were won by the atheists.

Now the city has banned religious displays in public spaces so no one got to put up anything in that public park during the holiday season.  Someone managed to arrange for private land to host the Nativity and it is currently on display.

That's not enough for some.  They want those displays moved back to the public park.  Apparently it isn't enough that they are up and available to be viewed.  Some kind of statement needs to be made that it is just fine for public lands to host such things.  After all, public land in Santa Monica hosts an anti-nuclear statue.

Well, the truth is that there is a difference between displaying nativity scenes on public land and a statue that takes the position that nuclear weapons are a bad thing.  One is religious in nature.  One is not.

When Jefferson wrote that famous letter that created the concept of a separation of church and state he had no idea we would be arguing those concepts hundreds of years later.  But that's the crux of this matter.  We can argue the difference between Christmas trees and menorahs, and the Nativity, but there's no question that the latter is definitely based solely in religious beliefs.  It doesn't belong on public land, even if there are decades of tradition where the displays were allowed.  Allowing them originally was a bad decision.

Private property is the place for purely religious displays to be made.