The State and Observations of Religious Holiday Traditions: Attitudes toward Nativity Scenes on Government Property

Abstract

As theoretical views of religion developed by Durkheim and civil religion theorists would lead one to expect, translating the principle of separation of church and state into specific practice can be difficult. Previous research suggests that attitudes about church-state separation vary by issue and often reflect considerable disagreement. A legal disagreement that occurred in Kentucky from 1988 through 1990 provided an opportunity to test attachment to church-state separation among residents of a state dominated by conservative churches. The disagreement stemmed from a decision by the governor to erect a creche on the grounds of the state Capitol. Despite vocal opposition, the placement of the creche and its use for living Nativity scenes was supported by a majority of the state's residents. Analysis of results from two statewide surveys showed that support remained strong whether or not the controversy was a major news story, but specific predictors of support were different during periods of greater or lesser controversy. Support for the Nativity scene was relatively common among older, conservative, nonurban residents, but it also spilled over into relatively well-educated respondents and those with higher income. The difficulty of separating familiar religious and governmental symbols calls attention to the difficulty of protecting the interests of those who fall outside the religious majority.