Student-led secular groups protest nativity display in Montville

BY TEHANI SCHNEIDER • GANNETT NEW JERSEY • December 15, 2009

MONTVILLE — Amid claims by student secular groups that the township's holiday display is unconstitutional, township officials said Monday the display will remain for the remainder of the holiday season.
The exterior municipal display, which features a Nativity scene, menorah and five wire reindeer entwined with lights, was recently singled out as a violation of the First Amendment by three secular groups at state colleges.
David Iacoviello, president of the Society of American Youth Secularists, or S.A.Y.S. at William Paterson University, requested the religious icons be removed at a township committee meeting last week.
The committee discussed the matter in closed session with legal counsel and made its decision to keep the display, said township administrator Frank Bastone.
The township, he said, has received a direct protest from Iacoviello's group, but two other secular groups have also decried the religious display.
"I understand their issues. I'm not belittling their issues," Bastone said on Monday. "But at this point, there's been one identified individual on this issue and he's from Old Bridge. The decision was to continue putting up the display as we have in the past. We will always act in the best interests of the municipality.''
Township attorney Bob Oostdyk did not return a call seeking comment on Monday. Iacoviello also did not return an e-mail seeking comment.
The township's display was brought to the attention of the student secular groups after an anonymous Montville resident reached out to Rutgers' Pastafarian group for support, said Jeffrey Cupo, Pastafarian founder at Rutgers New Brunswick. The resident said the township failed to respond to his requests to remove the religious icons from the display, said Cupo.
In response, Cupo alerted both S.A.Y.S. and the Secular Student Alliance at The College of New Jersey, and urged the other groups to ask township officials to take down the display.
Cupo also asked the township to erect a display of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a satirical noodle god often used by the Pastafarians — a group comprised of atheists, agnostics and freethinkers — to emphasize violations of church and state.
"They shouldn't be using government money that taxpayers paid for to support religion," said Cupo of South Plainfield. "We're just using our satire to fight back."
The identity of the Montville resident who initially reached out to the Pastafarian group could not be determined on Monday. Identified by Cupo only as "Monty," the resident did not return an e-mailed request by the Daily Record seeking comment.
While Cupo acknowledged that the spaghetti monster request was tongue-in-cheek, he said the township's refusal to remove the religious icons from the display will lead to a mounting challenge by the secular groups.
The Pastafarian group, which the senior biology major founded at Rutgers two years ago, has close to 100 members alone.
"We're going to keep up with the e-mails," Cupo said. "Right now, that's the extent of it.''
Michael Tracey, president of the Secular Student Alliance at TCNJ, said in an e-mail Monday that he has ''joined the fight'' nominally as part of a larger coalition of groups that generally work together.
Bastone, however, said Monday he did not recall receiving a request from the Pastafarian group or any other group aside from S.A.Y.S. The administrator said Iacoviello is the only individual who has identified himself as an opponent of the display.
William G. Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said towns statewide are given guidelines to follow regarding holiday displays each year.
The guidelines stem from a 1994 case, where the American Civil Liberties Union challenged Jersey City on First Amendment grounds after officials erected a creche and menorah on city property, Dressel said. A year later, Jersey City added other symbols, representing Kwanzaa, Santa Claus and even Frosty the Snowman to depict the diversity of its residents. The display was ruled by an appeals court to be constitutional.
Since then, the League has issued a letter to all towns each October, which emphasizes contacting municipal counsel over the legality of holiday displays.
The letter states that "secular symbols and messages should not be included merely as an attempt to legitimize the religious aspects. ... they should be at least as prominent as any religious displays."
However, Dressel noted that the inclusion of certain symbols in a holiday display depends on the unique circumstances within a community. The guidelines issued in the letter are not a legal opinion, but intended to inform towns of past litigation involving holiday displays, he said.
"We've had questions over the years, relative to holiday displays and what we have found is that the law is somewhat fluid, or unsettled in this particular area," Dressel said. "I think for guidance, for the mayor and governing body, if the issues come up, it should be forwarded to their attorney to review if there are questions regarding displays — type of displays, location of displays, anything relative to a holiday display."