Court rejects demands to remove French city’s nativity scene

A French court ruled on Monday that the city hall of Melun, a town near Paris, had the right to keep the nativity scene installed in its gardens, after it came under attack in the name of secularity.

Creative commons/Daniel Ferrier

The association of the "libres penseurs” (“free-thinkers”) had asked for this nativity scene to be removed claiming it contradicted the principle of secularism.

This principle has been in place in France since the 1905 law of separation between church and state.

The government commissioner had also asked for the scene to be dislodged, saying the installation was a religious symbol and not a simple tradition.

Gérard Millet, the mayor of Melun, argued that the nativity scene was a “local tradition that dated back to the 18th century” and that it should be kept.

On Friday, the court of Montpellier in southern France had also rejected the demand of the mayor of the little town of Béziers to remove the city's nativity scene.

In a five-page judgment, the judge justified its decision by saying the case lacked urgency “in absence of particular circumstances that could have caused public unrest”.

The association of the free-thinkers did not say if it would lodge an appeal regarding that decision.