Santa Monica, California has decided to end its 60-year Christmas tradition of setting up Nativity scenes along Ocean Avenue because last year atheists took over a majority of the booths. The city didn’t want to be in the position of refereeing religious fights.

Today, a group of churches plans to challenge that decision in court.

According to Peter Johnson, Jr., the “war on Christmas has begun.”

He said, “Santa Monica appears to have succumbed to what’s called the heckler’s veto, meaning that if you heckle something long enough, you can remove from the public square other people who do in fact have a right to have this kind of scene.”

UPDATE 1:30p ET: Trace Gallagher reports that the judge in the case has just handed down a tentative ruling and the injunction application has been denied, meaning the city wins and there will be no nativity displays.

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