Deck the station

The Nativity scene at Charleston Fire Station 12, which was removed last week after the city received a written complaint from a national First Amendment watchdog organization, was restored Tuesday once city officials decided to enhance the display with other holiday decorations.

"After analyzing its options, the City and Fire Department determined that to make sure the holiday decorations are in compliance with the laws, the Fire Department is adding decorations to the Nativity scene to include a Jewish Chanukah menorah, Kwanzaa kinara, Santa Claus, elves and reindeer," department officials announced in a news release.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit based in Wisconsin, with chapters in Pennsylvania and Alabama and 14,000 members across the country, sent a letter dated Dec. 17 to Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and Fire Chief Thomas Carr asking the city to remove the Nativity scene at Fire Station 12. It was gone by Thursday, though an illuminated cross remained on display in front of the building.

The organization's staff attorney, Rebecca S. Kratz, said the modified display probably is OK. "In terms of the Nativity," she said, "if you muddy it up with secular decorations, federal courts have deemed it permissible." She said she will consult with local complainants, then determine next steps.

Riley, calling the solution "a good and positive ending," said the new assemblage at the fire station is similar to what's done in Marion Square each December.

"We felt is was very important that we provide an opportunity for the Nativity scene to be here, where it has been for a long time, but to make sure we get it into compliance with Supreme Court rulings," Riley said. "Charleston has a long, rich history of religious tolerance and diversity. We also have a very proud tradition of following the law."

At least two other Nativity scenes are displayed at fire stations belonging to the St. Andrew's Public Service District, a taxpayer-funded firefighting operation in unincorporated areas west of the Ashley River.

The displays could be seen Tuesday at St. Andrew's district headquarters on Ashley River Road near Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, and at Fire Station 3 on Ashley River Road near Church Creek. St. Andrew's fire officials said the creches are part of Christmas displays that have been mounted at these stations for decades.

"We're not trying to force religion on anyone," said Ray Gorham, battalion chief at district headquarters, which also features a mechanical Santa Claus. It's tradition, he said, an expression of culture and holiday cheer, not dogma.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation received several complaints about the displays and are investigating, Kratz said.

Since the issue was made public Monday, the Fire Department and mayor's office have been flooded with phone calls, mostly from people expressing support for the displays, Fire Department public information officer Mark Ruppel said. The city's legal department is in discussions with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, he said.

Fire officials were dismayed.

"I've never seen anything so ridiculously blown out of proportion in my life," St. Andrew's district manager Charles Feather said.

Gorham said the creche has been part of his station's Christmas display for at least the last 22 years he has been there. In 1984, when he was part of the North Charleston Fire Department, his station staged a live manger scene -- and received no complaints.

"The change to the display at the station (12) was made to make clear that the display is a celebration of this holiday season," Carr said in a statement. Later, he said the episode has been an opportunity for productive discussion and learning. "The firefighters have been deeply affected."

Fire officials said First Amendment-based complaints are relatively new. Nativity scenes and other decorations long have been displayed at fire stations without incident, they said. Last year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the Charleston Fire Department concerning the creche and cross at Fire Station 12 (the cross had been mounted on the roof, Kratz said), and someone slipped a flier about church-state separation under the door of the St. Andrew's Public Service District offices in recent years, Feather said. No one has complained yet this year, he said.

The Nativity scene at Charleston's Fire Station 12 originally was on private property near the station, Carr said. The next-door neighbor decided not to put it back, he said, adding that he had no problem with the display of the cross, which was leaning on a stone memorial to the nine firefighters who died in the Sofa Super Store fire in June 2007.

Kratz said federal courts repeatedly have ruled that displaying a cross, or memorials with crosses, or any individual sectarian symbol on government property is unconstitutional.

Menorahs are typically considered to be religious in nature and therefore should not be part of a solitary government-sponsored display, she said. Christmas trees and Santas have been deemed cultural or secular symbols and are therefore usually allowed, she said.

"The First Amendment exists to protect the minority from the majority," she said. "There are a lot of divergent views in this country."

Feather said firefighters work long shifts, sometimes 36 hours straight. The station is like a second home, so the firefighters are granted latitude to decorate it as they wish. A small discretionary fund into which firefighters contribute their own money is maintained to help pay for the decorations.

"It's tradition, it's what the firemen want," he said.

If, for example, a Jewish firefighter suggested putting up a menorah, the station would oblige, Feather said.

Kratz said that the ultimate goal -- freedom -- is shared by her organization and its critics "because if government is free from religion, then all people can feel safe to practice their religion freely." If government favors one religious community, others are inevitably cast as outsiders and could become subject to oppression, she said. That's why it's important to be diligent about the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

"The Bill of Rights exists and governs in the Bible Belt as well," Kratz said.

Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postandcourier.com.