The Battle of Berkley Kicks into High Gear

(cross-posted at dKos, MichLib & BfM)

Part 7 in an ongoing series about the Nativity Display on City Hall battle here in Berkley, Michigan.

(NOTE: While I am a member of Citizens for Religious Freedom, I am posting this as an individual, NOT as an official representative of the group.)

THE SHORT VERSION: We're facing a local ballot proposal which, if passed, would FORCE the city council to build a Nativity display on city hall property. While this sort of issue pops up several times every year somewhere or another in the nation, to my knowledge this is the first time that there's been a city ordinance on the ballot which would specifically REQUIRE church & state to mix in such a fashion.

The backstory can be read here, here, here--oh, never mind; just visit our website to find out what the deal is.

THE GOOD NEWS:

Last night we held our fundraiser at Amici's Pizza here in Berkley (of course), which was successful beyond our expectations! Everyone had a great time, and the evening was highlighted by a beautiful Opera performance of "Silent Night" by our resident Baritone (and organization treasurer) Dan Mihaescu!

We expected perhaps 30 people or so; we ended up with about 100! (I won't reveal how much we raised, but it was certainly more than we'd expected.)

As a result, we've more than doubled our official list of supporters; lawn signs are going up, confidence is high; I repeat, confidence is high!

THE BAD NEWS:

We knew that our opponents weren't being idle, however.

Our reasons for opposing the nativity proposal range from the practical (City Hall is a lousy venue for the display anyway), to the economical (with Michigan in such dire economic shape, the last thing our small town can afford is a pricey, drawn-out legal battle from EITHER the left or the right), to the spiritual (a church is a much better location for any spiritual experience than a municipal building any day of the week).

Our opponents, however, see one thing and one thing only: the eeeeeevil ACLU. They're so obsessed with the American Civil Liberties Union that they mention the organization at least 15 times on their website (I'd prefer not to give them any more publicity than they need--if you really want to visit their site, it's mentioned in the link below).

Never mind that we are neither financially backed by, nor beholden to the ACLU in any way. Never mind the fact that we have bi-partisan support, with several prominent Republicans supporting the NO vote. In our opponents' eyes, this whole thing is all about squashing the eeeeevil ACLU.

Of course, on their site you'll *also* find several references to the Thomas More Law Center--which makes sense, since they're the same ones who helped them write the ballot proposal in the first place--a proposal which specifically requires "figures of the infant Jesus, Mary , and Joseph" to be depicted, on City Hall property, from "the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday through the following January 6th".

Jan. 6 happens to be the feast of the Epiphany. Not only does this proposal favor a specific religion over others, it specifically favors a particular sub-section of that religion, since not all sects of Christianity use the same timetable for the Christmas holiday.

With all that in mind, check out the top story on the Thomas More Center's website today: http://www.thomasmor...

In short, we need the citizens of Berkley to VOTE NO on Nov. 6th!

http://www.citizensf...
http://www.berkleyvo...