If you stop by the Iowa Capitol over the next couple of weeks, be sure to check out the “Bill of Rights” Nativity scene put up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It comes in response to a Christian display that went up earlier this week with the blessings of Governor Terry Branstad.

… The cutout depicts Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, along with the Statue of Liberty, gazing in adoration at a “baby” Bill of Rights.

A sign beside 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.” It ends with: “Keep religion and government separate!”

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“It is inappropriate to have a sectarian religious display in the heart of state government,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “We’d much prefer that the seat of government be free from religion — and irreligion. But if a devotional nativity display is allowed, there must be ‘room at the inn’ for all points of view, including irreverence and freethought.“