To celebrate the season, the Texas Capitol has multiple Christmas trees and a Nativity scene on its grounds. But after a complaint by Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, “a winter solstice” display urging the separation of church and state has been kicked out.

The display was a cardboard cutout of the nation’s founding fathers and the Statue of Liberty looking down at the Bill of Rights in a manger. It had been set up in the Capitol’s basement, hardly a high-traffic area, and didn’t generate much of a public response.

But after finding out about it, Abbott called it a “juvenile parody” in a letter asking the State Preservation Board to remove the exhibit.

Now that it’s gone, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the group behind the display, says it’s considering its legal options.

The Preservation Board approved the exhibit days earlier. But after receiving the letter from Abbott, the agency reconsidered. Executive Director John Sneed snapped a picture of it and texted it to Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, who chairs the House Administration Committee. Geren said to take it down.

“The governor wanted it down, and I told John that, if I were him, I’d take it down,” Geren said. “It was an inappropriate exhibit.”

The removal comes a week after Abbott publicly expressed his support for a Nativity scene outside the city of Orange municipal building. He argued that the city had a Constitutional right to display the religious imagery.

In his letter Tuesday, he cited the Constitution again.

Read the article “Texas Governor Nixes Capitol Freedom from Religion Display” on texastribune.org.