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Atheists will post own display

Sign joins Nativity scene as Capitol fray goes on

Richard Roesler
Staff writer
November 29, 2008

Protesting the fact that the big evergreen erected each December in the state Capitol was known as a "holiday tree" rather than a Christmas tree, state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, in 2005 added a "Merry Christmas" sign and a menorah. (File/The Spokesman-Review) 'Religion is but myth' Text of the sign that a Wisconsin atheist group will soon post opposite a Nativity scene in the Washington state Capitol: "At this season of the winter solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

OLYMPIA – On Monday in the Washington state Capitol, Christians on one side of the rotunda will erect a Nativity scene, with a 3 1/2-foot-tall Joseph and Mary and a baby Jesus in a manger.

On the other side of the echoing dome, members of an atheist group will post their own display: a 4 1/2-foot-tall sign declaring that there is no God and that "religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Welcome to the latest chapter in the annual tussle to stake out a piece of holiday real estate in what lawmakers like to call "the people's house."

Things were simpler in 2005, before state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, decided to launch a protest against the long-standing offend-no-one practice of declaring the annual evergreen towering inside the Capitol a "holiday tree." (The 30-foot trees, surrounded by gifts, are donated by the Association of Washington Business.)

Ahern objected, saying the thing was clearly a Christmas tree. In protest, he gathered with a few dozen supporters on the steps of the Capitol to sing carols that year. Then he tucked a little "Merry Christmas" sign at the base of the tree, along with a shiny cardboard cutout of a Jewish menorah.

And so it began. The next year, bearded orthodox rabbis gathered with Gov. Chris Gregoire to light a large menorah in the rotunda. That triggered a request by Olympia real-estate agent Ron Wesselius to erect the Nativity scene.

State officials balked. Wesselius sued. The state settled, and Wesselius last year was allowed to prop up the figures on the Capitol's third floor.

As a result, Capitol officials now say they'll honor virtually any request for a religious or political display.

As long as it's not disruptive, costs taxpayers nothing and is not seen as the state endorsing any viewpoint, "it's pretty much wide open," said Steve Valandra, spokesman for General Administration, the state agency that issues the permits. "It's free expression."

After all, he pointed out, state officials had to let about a dozen uniformed neo-Nazis use the Capitol steps for a white-separatist rally in July 2006. Hundreds of state troopers spent the afternoon keeping the Nazis and hundreds of counter-demonstrators separated.

Still, some think the religious expressions go too far.

The Olympian newspaper recently decried the competing displays as "an out-of-control struggle for religious superiority" and "escalating nonsense."

"How long will it be before the Capitol is filled with competing displays?" the paper asked. "Goat sacrifices?"

Ahern said religion is under attack in popular society, and all major religions should be free to have a display in the Statehouse.

"We are a Judeo-Christian nation, and we need to honor the different times of year for Christians, Jews and even Muslims," he said.

Christmas trees, menorahs and displays for Ramadan should all be welcomed, Ahern said. But the atheist sign, he said, is a step too far.

"This is bizarre," he said. "Atheism is not a religion. It doesn't belong there. And I would definitely not want to see Satanism up there at all."

The request for the atheists' display came from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group that says a local member asked it to put it up. For years, the group has erected a nearly identical sign in the Wisconsin state Capitol in Madison. To protect the sign, the group tapes to it a little note: "Thou shalt not steal."

Valandra said that so far, things have worked out pretty well. Wesselius erected his Nativity display last year on the third floor, with no complaints.

This year, the only applications for displays were for the Nativity scene and the atheist sign. Both will remain up until Dec. 29.

The closest the state has gotten to turning someone down, Valandra said, was last December, when a Tacoma truck driver announced plans to torch a Mexican flag on the Capitol steps. But as officials mulled it – Would it pollute? Does that require a burn permit? – the man dropped the idea.

As for the specter of some religious group slaughtering goats before horrified tourists and schoolchildren, Valandra said that scene is unlikely.

"I don't think slaughtering animals on the Capitol campus would be permitted, and you can quote me on that," he said.

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