Alabama Senate Passes Religious Display Freedom Act (Senate Bill 277) Sponsored By Senator Phil Williams

Phil Williams Pic

On Tuesday, April 7th, the Alabama Senate passed the Religious Display Freedom Act (Senate Bill 277), sponsored by Senator Phil Williams (R-Rainbow City). The bill affirms the First Amendment right of public entities to display images and symbols associated with a religious holiday on public property, such as a nativity scene or a Christmas tree, if secular scenes or symbols are included. Currently, existing state law does not expressly protect the display of religious holiday symbols on public property. SB277 now goes to the House for debate.

“The Religious Display Freedom Act is designed to protect the Constitutional rights of cities, schools, and other public entities to display things like a manger scene at Christmas,” said Williams. “Like many Alabamians, I was outraged when the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Wisconsin threatened the cities of Rainbow City, Piedmont, and Glencoe with lawsuits, all for having a manger scene in front of their city halls during Christmas.”

Senate Bill277 builds off the legal precedent set in the 1984 Supreme Court case Lynch v. Donnelly, where the Supreme Court found that a nativity scene on public property did not constitute an endorsement of a specific religion since the display included secular symbols of Christmas, such as a Santa Claus and reindeer.

“Religion – particularly Christianity – has played a foundational role in our nation’s history,” stated Williams. “Our currency says, ‘In God we trust,’ and Thomas Jefferson spoke of the ‘laws of nature and of nature’s God’ in the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution does not prohibit religion from the public square, and the Court recognized that in Lynch v. Donnelly. This Act will protect our religious rights here in Alabama.”

 

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