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At the Milwaukee County Courthouse 'tis the season, for Christmas, Hanukkah - and atheism.

By far the dominant feature in the courthouse rotunda is a giant lighted Christmas tree, but if you look closely into the surrounding areas you'll also find a crèche, placed on a small table; a menorah marking the Jewish Festival of Lights; and a 3-foot-high sandwich-board type sign proclaiming the winter solstice.

The tree is a longtime tradition maintained by first-year County Executive Chris Abele, who refers to the display as a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree. The other displays were included in the courthouse by request.

"We welcome all religious views expressed by their displays," Abele spokeswoman Amy Paul said. "We don't exclude anyone."

The tableaux were OK'd by the county corporation counsel, Paul said.

The solstice sign came courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison-based group that has objected to religious displays in various public buildings around the country.

The group's sign in the Milwaukee County Courthouse states: "At this season of winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation, said the county had followed court rulings that said Christmas displays were legal in public spaces as long as they were part of a public forum that allowed other views - "religious or irreligious" - on display.

"The whole thing is quite arbitrary," Gaylor said. "We would just prefer that there would not be nativity displays in county buildings," she said. "If they open it up as a public forum, there's not much we can do about it."

The foundation wrote a complaint letter last year to County Board Chairman Lee Holloway about the religious Christmas display but didn't get an answer, according to the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group sought and was granted permission to place its solstice display at the courthouse Friday, although the sign was confiscated for about an hour before it was placed in the rotunda, according to a statement from the foundation.

The menorah display at the courthouse came courtesy of Lubavitch of Wisconsin. The owner of the crèche display, complete with figures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three kings and the Archangel Gabriel, is not identified.

Gary Waszak, the county's interim facilities management director, did not return a call late Monday.

The county did not require a permit for any of the displays.

The foundation has a similar solstice sign on display at the state Capitol in Madison, as well as a "free thought natural nativity" display aimed at celebrating the birth of the sun, Gaylor said.