The Freedom From Religion Foundation is pleased to announce the return of its Bill of Rights nativity display to the Washington Capitol grounds in Olympia. 

The display is FFRF’s 6-foot-tall whimsical Bill of Rights “nativity.” The irreverent graphic by artist Jacob Fortin depicts Founders Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington kneeling in adoration before a “baby” Bill of Rights in a manger. This is the third year the nativity display has been at the Capitol grounds since 2023, after replacing the previous banner that had been put up for many years to counter a Christian nativity display.

The tongue-in-cheek nativity reads:
At this Season of the Winter Solstice
Join us in honoring the Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791, which reminds us there can be no religious freedom without the freedom to dissent.
Keep religion and government separate!

“Our sign is a reminder of the real reason for the season: the Winter Solstice,” FFRF Co-President Dan Barker says. “If there are going to be so-called public forums for religion in December, then there has to be ‘room at the inn’ for those of us who are not religious.” 

The religiously unaffiliated today in Washington state number at least 32 percent, including 10 percent who identify as atheists or agnostics. “So-called ‘nones,’ those claiming no religious affiliation, outnumber Evangelical Christians, Catholics and mainline Protestants in Washington state,” according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

FFRF thanks volunteers (pictured from left to right) Lisa Ornstein (co-founder of Olympia Indivisible), Barbara Brown, Darrell Barker (brother of FFRF Co-President Dan Barker), Patrick Kirkbride, Lewis and Linda Foerster, Deb Tinnemore, Albert Yuen and Rod Tinnemore, as well as volunteers not pictured: in the picture, Peter Johansson, Kevin Young and Baba Ron-Rubinstein. The photo was taken by Lewis Foerster and edited by Albert Yuen. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 1,700 members and a chapter in the state of Washington. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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