“Christ is why we celebrate Christmas,” and Kimberly Byrd announced it, as a dispute over a Christmas display in a small town threw the issue of faith and constitutional principle upon the scales.
At Mullins, South Carolina, the Beautification Committee, headed by Byrd, had weeks to turn the new marketplace in the city into a fun-filled place during its first Christmas season. The decorations were all financed by the pockets of members and consisted of wreaths, lights, a snowman, Santa Claus and a small 3 by 4 foot Nativity. Byrd had an idea in mind of a place that would attract people to downtown similar to “like a Hallmark movie.”
The Christmas spirit was brutally cut short when Mayor Miko Pickett forwarded Mayor Byrd a text message asking him to remove the Nativity in the parking space. The point raised by Pickett was separation of religion and the state and the inclusion of people of other religions. Byrd was shocked, a lifetime Mullins resident. We have a church on every corner we have a small town, she said. It is a Bible Belt religious society. I have lived 53 years of my life here and never heard of anything so happening here.
Some members of the city council were quick to support it such as Councilman Albert Woodberry who said, Yes, I would like to see it stay till the season is over. Children go by, men walk by to have a look, so nothing is wrong about it. Byrd threatened to remove all other Christmas decorations in case Nativity was taken down and that Jesus Christ should be the focus of the celebration. Christmas does not involve Santa Claus. It is concerning the birth of Jesus, she said.
On November 26, the mayor went to Facebook and stated her reasons as to why a religious symbol should not be displayed on public property as to not violate constitutional principles. The controversy parallels the decades of courtroom contests of holiday exhibitions. In the landmark 1984 case Lynch v. The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the inclusion of a Nativity scene in a wider holiday display which included secular items did not have a significant impact on religion and, therefore, was indirect, distant, and incidental, aiding religion. The ruling gave rise to the so-called “Reindeer Rule,” that permits the placement of religious symbols in governmental holiday displays as long as they are supplemented with secular objects or images such as reindeer or Santa Claus.
The decision of the Court of 1989 in the County of Allegheny v. case, however. ACLU also knocked down a Nativity put up alone in a courtroom, which they found to be an illegal promotion of Christianity. The Court has stressed on context: a menorah in front of a governmental building was allowed, since it was in a position of equality with a Christmas tree and a liberty-themed sign, and had no message of endorsement.
The legal environment has changed in the recent past. In Kennedy v. The Supreme Court officially rejected the Lemon and endorsement tests, giving future instructions that the Establishment Clause is to be understood through historical practices and understanding (Bremerton School District, 2022). Under this new approach, the challenges towards religious displays by the people have become a rare occurrence, and tradition and non-coercion now by the court is taken into account.
The proponents of the first amendment also observe that in cases where there is opening up of public space to privately held holiday displays, viewpoint discrimination is outlawed. Religion as one legal analysis put it is a perspective as well and that is, in case secular symbols are permitted, religious symbols should not be barred simply because of the message they convey. Criminal cases such as Capitol Square Review v. Pinette (1995) confirmed that religious speech in the civic forums is equally safeguarded as the secular speech as long as it is not government-sponsored speech.
It has attracted the national press attention to Byrd, with the ultimate award being Becket giving her the 2025 “Tiny Tim Toast” award. Her determination was applauded by the president of Becket, Mark Rienzi: her bravery to defend the Nativity scene was impressive and patriotic. We are pleased to give a deep toast to Kimberly and others as well who have preserved the faith and added a little more cheer to this season of the year.
Its Mullins marketplace is still decorated with its Nativity which is a center of a larger light display and Christmas spirit. To Byrd and a good number of the town it is a declaration more than decoration to the town and its faith that it is not giving in to the mounting pressure to get religious icons out of civic life.
