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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Nativity proposal falters A nativity scene displayed outside Berkley city hall for decades will remain in the hands of local religious leaders after voters defeated a proposal to return the creche to government ground. In an unprecedented election, voters in this Oakland County suburb turned down by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin a proposed charter amendment that called for requiring the city to display the nativity at city hall. Last year the Berkley City Council elected to turn over the creche to the Berkley Clergy Association after the ACLU of Michigan said the city's holiday display violated the law. The clergy association agreed to display the nativity at churches across the city. Soon after that decision, a group of citizens collected enough signatures to place a proposed city charter amendment on the ballot that would have required the city to display, at minimum, an infant Jesus, mother Mary and Joseph on city hall property. The vote failed by only 414 votes in this predominantly Christian suburb of 15,500, which has been divided on the issue all year long. "I hope people across the nation have seen how we stood up to the ACLU and the City Council, and they will do the same. We lost, but maybe they will win. It's in the Lord's hands," supporter Georgia Halloran said Tuesday night. Alex Agbay, who has lived in Berkley for more than three decades, wanted the creche back on city hall property because, he said, that's where it has been and that's where it belongs. "It's a shame we can put up a 30-foot Santa Claus on Coolidge Highway but we can't put up something that represents the true meaning of Christmas," Agbay said. Resident Rachel Stam doesn't agree. Stam supports the decision by the city council to hand over the creche to the religious leaders in the community. "For me this solution that we came up with last year makes sense. The nativity scene is something the Bible depicts and it belongs at a church," she said. The U.S. Supreme Court has found a nativity can be constitutional if it's part of a larger display of secular decorations. After the American Civil Liberties Union threatened the city with a lawsuit in 2005, it moved a Santa mailbox closer to the nativity scene. But the ACLU returned in 2006 and the council sent the figures packing after examining several options from its legal department and enduring lengthy public discussion. Public opinion polls show a majority of Americans favor religious displays on public property. In December 2005, a poll by the Pew Forum found 83 percent of Americans agreed that displays of Christmas symbols like nativity scenes and Christmas trees should be allowed on government property. Forty-four percent of those respondents said it was OK for Christmas symbols to be displayed alone.
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