Texas Republicans file bill to install state-sponsored Nativity scene in Capitol

An atheist group responded to the bill with a stern warning: "Texas should not have a religion"

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Two Texas Republicans have filed a bill to place a state-sponsored Nativity scene in the Capitol “during at least the month of December each year.” By doing so, they’re hoping to deny non-Christian groups the opportunity to put up their own displays in the same building since there would be no need for an open forum anymore.

SB 515 was filed earlier this month by State Sen. Mayes Middleton. HB 1497, an identical bill, was filed by State Rep. Briscoe Cain. The text is short, but if it becomes law, the plan would go into effect in time for next Christmas. It calls on the State Preservation Board to put a Nativity scene up during December and says it wouldn’t be subject to current restrictions prohibiting new displays in the space.

Middleton explained his reasoning to Houston Public Media:

"Religious liberties and freedom of expression of our faith, Free Exercise Cause, are very important in our State Legislature," Middleton said, "and this is something that I thought was important for everybody in the state that celebrates Christmas."

…

Middleton pointed to a variety of existing displays linked to Christmas and Christianity at the Texas Capitol. "We have Christmas trees in the Texas House," he said. "We have Christmas trees in the Texas Senate. There's actually Bibles in every House desk. There's Bibles in every desk in the Senate. And both chambers begin each day in prayer."

In other words, because Christian Nationalists have shoved religion in the legislature (where it never belonged), these guys want to keep going and expand beyond their own chambers. It’s the same argument they use to justify putting the Ten Commandments in public schools or hiring chaplains in lieu of trained social workers and counselors.

It’s also bizarre that he equates a lit-up tree—a secular symbol at this point—with his own religion.

What message would the Nativity send to non-Christians?

Middleton doesn’t care:

Asked whether he was concerned about what a display means for non-Christians, Middleton said, "They don't have to visit the nativity scene, just like they don't have to visit the House chamber and see the Christmas tree. They don't have to visit the Senate chamber and see the Christmas tree. It says, ‘In God We Trust' above the Senate dais. It says ‘In God We Trust' above the House dais. They don't have to see it."

…

"There is no such thing as the separation of church and state," Middleton said. "That is a made-up doctrine that was in one letter from (Thomas) Jefferson to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptists."

Non-Christians are always told to look the other way. But when an atheist or Satanic group puts up a display in the same space, the same conservative Christians flip out like they’re being persecuted. Someone make it make sense.

As for his lie about the separation of church and state, it wasn’t confined to random letter. In fact, it’s become virtually synonymous with our understanding of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, based on countless legal decisions.

The actual message a Christian display would send—the one Middleton doesn’t want to say out loud despite strongly believing it—is that, in Texas, non-Christians are second-class citizens and should be treated accordingly. In his press release announcing the proposed bill, Middleton said the Nativity scene depicted “one of the greatest moments of history”—it’s not an actual part of history—and repeated the lie that “Our nation and state were founded on Judeo-Christian values.”

None of this is out of character for him. After all, when Middleton created the chaplains-in-schools law, he was open about how it had everything to do with getting God into schools.

State Senator Mayes Middleton (screenshot via YouTube)

He told Christian pseudo-historians David Barton and son Tim Barton along with Rick Green (a self-described “Constitution Coach”) that his ultimate goal was getting “God back in government.” Elsewhere in the interview, Middleton argued that schools have been worse off ever since “prayer was taken out of our public schools in the 1960s” (which it wasn’t).

This is what he does, though: He floods the zone with faith-based bullshit in order to win over gullible Christians who don’t know any better. Middleton has previously filed multiple bills to bring Bible reading to public schools and do away with all kinds of church/state separation barriers.

He pushed those bills for the same reason he’s pushing this one: He firmly believes the church—his church specifically—should dictate all state policy. And Texas Republicans don’t have the courage to say no to him.

Cain is no different. Hell, he’s tried to eliminate the Blaine amendment, which prohibits state funds from going to private religious schools.

Obviously, filing the bill doesn’t necessarily mean the bill will become law. There are far more pieces of legislation meant to make Culture War statements than bills that actually have a chance of becoming law. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore what’s going on.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is already raising concerns about the possibility of a state-sponsored Nativity display:

“There are tax-free churches and religious institutions throughout Texas communities that are free to put up nativity scenes, not to mention individuals in their homes or lawns,” points out FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “But the state of Texas should not have a religion, or take sides on religious debates, period.”

FFRF isn’t a stranger to this particular issue. In 2015, the group took advantage of the State Capitol’s open forum by erecting a “secular Nativity” honoring church/state separation.

Gov. Greg Abbott tried having the display removed, but that opened the door to a lawsuit that dragged on for years. But after winning in a lower court, the notoriously conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in 2023. A few months ago, the state finally sent FFRF a check for the legal fees and penalties amounting to $358,073.67.

It could have been avoided if Abbott just accepted the principle of religious freedom and plurality.

Now, Middleton and Cain, having learned absolutely nothing from that fight, are eager to waste money on a different legal battle. Their bills would elevate their religion over all others by granting the Nativity a special kind of privilege that no other group would share. In the process, they hope to exclude the beliefs of the roughly 10 million Texans who don’t share their faith.

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