PLANTATION— Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus have no business posing in a public park — even if they're accompanied by a Hanukkah menorah.

"Inappropriate" is the word the Broward chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union uses to describe the holiday display planned for Liberty Tree Park.

It's like Christmas in July, with all the traditional trimmings: squabbles over religious displays in super-sensitive South Florida.

The ACLU, in a letter to city officials, warned that displaying a Nativity scene and menorah violates the separation of church and state. The problem, the rights group said, is that the city is advocating for two religions while ignoring all the others.

"We feel it's a violation of the First Amendment and an endorsement of religion," said the ACLU's Barry Butin. "If they were really neutral and didn't favor one over the other, they'd have a more inclusive display: Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist."

Butin didn't mention the Wiccan religion, whose symbol presumably would be a broomstick.

The ACLU has already warned Plantation — twice — against setting up religious displays. It was acting on a complaint from an unidentified board member who doesn't live in Plantation but photographed the creche and menorah one Christmastime. MORE