Nativity causes scene at state capital

(Sun Herald): A privately funded Nativity scene is on display this year inside the Mississippi state Capitol. Justin Barnard, chairman of the Mississippi-based 9/11 Remembrance Foundation, said Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant asked if the foundation would sponsor the display. It features a 4-foot-tall barn with figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. The scene is displayed on the first-floor rotunda at the center of the Capitol. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-chair of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said her Wisconsin-based group wants to erect a sign near the display in Mississippi that says, among other things, “Religion is but myth and superstition.” Bryant, who’s running for governor in 2011, said: “I think it’s ridiculous for anyone to find this offensive.”

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