Hailing the decision by the United States Court of Appeals last week holding Chicago’s City Hall creche unconstitutional as a major victory, Theodore Mann, president of the American Jewish Congress, said that “the court’s ruling is a welcome and much needed reversal of the District Court’s holding that ‘America is a Christian nation’.”
Pointing out that the decision is not hostile to religious celebration, Mann said that the court’s opinion “does not mean that religious symbols must be invisible, or confined to the home, church or synagogue. It means only that they may not be placed in a public context which connotes an alliance between church and state.”
The lawsuit, American Jewish Congress vs. City and County of Chicago, was filed in 1985 by American Jewish Congress lawyers on behalf of itself, other Jewish organizations and residents of Chicago to challenge the city’s long-standing practice of having a creche displayed in City Hall at Christmas time.
“The court’s ruling is especially gratifying as the latest in a series of opinions reflecting judicial recognition of the dangers of an overly broad reading of the Supreme Court’s disturbing 1984 decision allowing a municipality to sponsor a creche,” Mann said.
“We are pleased that municipal authorities in Chicago have indicated that they will not appeal, and therefore that the court’s decision will be allowed to bring an end to what has long been a deeply divisive practice in this city.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
