The recent controversy surrounding the City of Casper's Ten Commandments monument did not in any way, shape or form affect the city in its decision to put up a nativity scene on public property this holiday season, the city manager said last week.

The nativity scene, which is part of a larger holiday display in Pioneer Park, located across Center Street from the County Courthouse, has been exhibited by the city for many, many years, City Manager Tom Forslund said.

On several occasions in the past, Forslund said residents have contacted the city expressing opposition to a depiction of Jesus' birth on public property. But these complaints have come only after the Casper Star-Tribune has written stories about the nativity scene's legality, Forslund said.

No one has contacted the city this year about the nativity scene even after the city faced a major controversy regarding the display of a Ten Commandments monument in a city park this fall, Forslund said.

The Ten Commandments controversy began in September when the city was asked to remove the monument from City Park by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. The foundation threatened legal action if the city failed to remove the monolith.

The matter was further complicated when the Westboro Baptist Church contacted the city and expressed a desire to place a monument declaring slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was in hell.

Last month the council decided to remove the Ten Commandments from the park and will later place it in a historical plaza where it will be surrounded by other monuments dedicated to documents vital to American legal history.

The city council expressed hope that such a move will prevent the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Westboro Baptist Church from taking legal action against the city. And, if such action is undertaken, the council believes the move will strengthen the city's legal position.

The matter of whether to put up the nativity scene this year was not even discussed by the Casper City Council, Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Barb Watters said.

"I don't remember there being much discussion about it, at least when I was around," she said.

Because the nativity scene is accompanied by secular holiday decorations in Pioneer Park, its exhibit is not in violation of the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state, City Attorney Bill Luben said.

"We set that up every year as a secular display," Luben said. "It will have a skating pond, it has Christmas lights. And case law has pretty much upheld nativity scenes when they are set up in a way that de-emphasizes the religious significance."