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A legal primer on religious displays at the Capitol

http://www.law.msu.edu/

A display at the state Capitol sponsored by a group called “The Satanic Temple” is raising eyebrows, even though it hasn’t been put up yet.Plans for a Christian nativity scene display were met with the Temple’s request for its own display, which features a snake, some inverted pentagrams, and the words, “The Greatest Gift is Knowledge.” Both requests were granted, with some limits, but lawmakers and some members of the public indicated their displeasure with the Satanic presence.

Current State’s Melissa Benmark talks with Frank Ravitch, a professor of law and the Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion here at MSU. He has spent a considerable amount of time studying the laws that surround such displays.

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