Sunday School class ignites controversy over Nativity scene

BARTOW (FBW)-Inspired by their December Sunday School study unit, an Adult Two class in Bartow decided to exhibit their faith in the public square. The discussion ignited by a simple, homemade Nativity scene has spread from First Baptist Church across the nation and across the world.

Marvin and Barbara Pittman’s class of 60 to 70-year-old adults were studying the Life and Work series “What will you do with the Gift of Christmas?” when discussion began about the absence of Christ in the public celebration of “the holidays.” The unit was produced by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

They bemoaned the fact that their grandchildren could not see the public symbols of Christmas to which their parents and grandparents had become accustomed

“We talked about what had been taken away from Christmas, and decided to put Christmas where everybody could see it,” Barbara Pittman said.

Although the Polk County Commission had already refused a local church’s request to display a Nativity scene on the courthouse lawn, the Pittmans and their class discovered in researching Polk County laws and citizens’ rights that no regulation existed barring a nativity display.

“They couldn’t do anything to us,” Pittman said.

Class members fashioned an eight-foot-wide stable and manger from wood and used “beauty-school heads” and costuming to portray members of the nativity scene. They purchased a baby doll to represent Jesus. After consulting with their pastor, Ron Burks, they gathered after prayer meeting Dec. 15 to construct the scene on the yard of the Neil Combee County Administration Building – across the street from the courthouse. The class chose the location for its visibility.

“We put it across the street from the courthouse so that those going in would see it. They might be going in to finalize a divorce or a bankruptcy. They may be on trial. We wanted to offer them hope,” Pittman said.

Without official permission, but with what they feel was a godly mandate, about 30 class members helped assemble the scene while people watched from inside the building and police and sheriff vehicles passed by without a word.

That did not prevent Barbara Pittman’s heart from “pitter-pattering” as she committed her first act of “civil disobedience.”

“The media has made a big deal of us doing this ‘under the cover of darkness,’” Pittman said. “We did it when we could get the most people to help. In the summertime, it would have been daylight. Besides, Jesus was born at night, not in broad daylight.”

On the next Wednesday, only three days before Christmas, the Polk County Commission discussed the situation in its regular meeting. County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson, an occasional visitor at First Baptist, sided with the Sunday School class. According to The Ledger in Lakeland, at one point Wilkinson compared the group’s actions to those of Martin Luther King, who “broke rules for a higher purpose.”

Commissioner Bob English cast the only dissenting vote after a motion was made to allow the display. Although Wilkinson had urged the Commission to follow President Bush’s lead in making one’s faith public, The Ledger reported English as saying, “(Look at) the White House lawn. I don’t think you’ll see a Nativity scene.”

The Polk County Commission ultimately ruled the nativity could stay until Dec. 27, and the building’s lawn was declared a temporary forum for expression. Anyone who wrote a letter to the commission also could mount a display in the area. The ruling’s proximity to Christmas, however, prevented action from other groups while some other citizens added their holiday sentiments to the “free expression area.” Signs appeared celebrating “Festivus for the Rest of Us,” the subject of a “Seinfeld” sitcom episode, and a tribute to the ancient religion, Zoroastrianism.

As reports of the incident began appearing in Florida media and then national media, pastor Burks and the Pittmans were able to tell their story to a broad audience. Interviewers seemed incredulous not only that adults still had Sunday School classes, but that senior adults would tackle such a project, according to Burks.

“Little did we realize this would take on the magnitude that it did,” Burks said.

“All we wanted was to include the Nativity in the celebration of Christmas. Why should our nation’s Christian heritage be denied?”

Public reaction to the media reports has been “overwhelmingly positive,” according to Burks, who has received e-mails from Oregon to Australia. A correspondent in Oklahoma wrote to say she was “proud of your spunky senior adults.”

The Polk County Commission will revisit the issue in April, when it is to formulate a permanent policy on public displays.

Regardless of the outcome, Adult Two’s nativity scene will have a home. Although the class would rather the display be in Bartow, Mulberry, a neighboring city in Polk County, has assured them their handiwork will be welcome there. The Mulberry City Commissioners voted to display the Nativity scene - if it is available - in front of City Hall.