Question

The facts:

The city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, displayed a crèche (nativity scene) every year as part of its Christmas decorations.
The scene was accompanied by a sign that read, "Season’s Greetings.”
A group sued the city, arguing that the crèche was a religious symbol of Christmas.
Its members argued that the crèche violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Given your understanding of the establishment clause, what argument could the group have made?
A.The city government was endorsing a religion.
B.The display respected the beliefs of other religions.
C.The city government had the right to free exercise of religion.
D.The display did not stop people from observing other religious practices.

Answer 1

The correct answer is A. The group could have argued that the city government was endorsing a religion when allowing to display the creche.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from passing laws that establish an official religion or show preference for one religion over another. The Court, however, declared constitutional some government activities related to religion, such as providing bus transportation for students of parochial schools and allowing the application of the "Sunday rest laws".

Seeing that the government allowed the display of the creche, the group could have interpreted that it was a form of adoption of a religion by it.

Answer 2

The correct answer is A. The city government was endorsing a religion.

Step-by-step explanation:

The First Amendment, which is an article or part of the constitution that protects some of the basic freedoms of people in the U.S, establishes in terms of religion that the government cannot promote a specific religion or stop people from exercising the religion they want and doing this would be considered as a violation of the constitution. In the case presented in the question, a group of people sued the city because the city displayed a nativity scene that was part of its Christian decoration. In this situation, the group that sued the city can rely on the First Amendment as the nativity decoration somehow promote the establishment of Christian religion over other religions which is a violation according to the First Amendment, this means, the group could have argued "The city government was endorsing a religion" and therefore violated the First Amendment as the mayor or government in charge of the city promote the display of a decoration of a specific religion.