Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, when people deck the halls with boughs of holly, mistletoe, beribboned wreaths -- and Festivus poles made of beer cans.
Each year, some people attempt to put up Nativity scenes in state Capitol buildings and governor's mansions, and others try to put up secular displays right next to them.
Groups like the American Humanist Association and the Freedom from Religion Foundation have been on the front lines of challenging religious displays on public property, arguing that they violate the separation of church and state. They often file lawsuits and pressure government officials to block Nativity scenes.
"This is like a bunch of groups within the United States right now who are trying to take Christianity out of the United States totally," said Bob Jackson, a county employee in Harrison County, Mississippi, where the AHA is protesting a Nativity scene in the local courthouse. "It's harmful. It's painful to me to see the federal courts that will listen to them more than they will listen to the majority of the people who live in the United States."
Private citizens also go after these Nativity scenes on a more personal level, erecting Festivus poles, Satanic displays and other dioramas.
The president of the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm that co-sponsors Nativity scenes around the country, told the Christian Post that he isn't bothered by the secular displays.
"Anti-Christian, anti-Christmas rhetoric and Satanic expositions merely serve to provide sharp emphasis by means of their stark contrast with the positive, uplifting, hopeful and joyous message of Christmas," Tom Brejcha said.
Below are some of the protests going on this holiday season:
Starting on the Saturday before Christmas, state Sen. Rick Jones (R) will put up his own Nativity scene, which he is required to take down and reinstall each day, under state rules.
The Satanic Temple of Detroit will be holding a ceremony on state grounds that same day in protest. It will also place its "snaketivity" statue -- a snake on a cross -- on the Capitol lawn for the second year in a row.
There will also be an event by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and a Festivus pole sponsored by The Humanity Fund, a group based in Florida.
An organizer told MLive that the pole will include "a gay pride flag, glitter paint and a disco ball."
"Atheist groups had already snatched up all available display space on the Capitol's ground floor for the week of Dec. 21, forcing the Nativity scene to come down a week earlier than it did last year," the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
One woman is planning a protest on Saturday, the day after the Nativity scene comes down, to show her displeasure with the atheists.
“It doesn't make a difference if one or two show up," Sylvia Driskell said. "It's God looking down and seeing that people care. His children care. Those who believe in Him."
Over the years, there has also been a "Happy Winter Solstice" banner and a Satanic temple diorama.
The Florida Prayer Network said that this year, it will not be erecting a Nativity scene.
"My hope is that the Christ in Christmas is louder than a wood display and some figurines," Pam Olsen, president of the Florida Prayer Network.
The pole he's installing in Oklahoma will be "approximately 6 feet 6 inches tall, painted with purple glitter, covered in rainbow colors and topped with an 8-inch disco ball."
"We didn't care that there was a nativity there as long as we could be included as well," Josh Hammers of the Orange County Atheists told the Houston Chronicle.
He said the group's banner would have read, "Whether you are celebrating Saturnalia, Christmas, the Winter Solstice or any other holiday this time of year, the Orange County Atheists would like to wish you 'Happy Holidays!'"
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) backed the Nativity scene and encouraged Orange to "stand up to the demands of a select few who wish to see God thrown out of the public square."
