(UPDATE: When I wrote this, I did not know Gov. Perry was going to sign the “Merry Christmas” bill today. While timely for this post, the bill is specifically aimed at school districts and is unlikely to have any impact on the county nativity scene.)
By Michael V. Hannigan
Sometimes, it is the thing that doesn’t happen that is the most interesting.
Commissioners’ Court this week approved an application from Keep Athens Beautiful and Light Up Athens to decorate the Courthouse Square for a variety of occasions between now and the end of the year. The request includes details about decorating for Christmas and also includes the annual nativity scene.
The application was OK’d as a matter of routine and with almost no discussion. It was pretty much a non-event.
The only reason it is worth mentioning is because of the group that was missing … the group that over the past two years has become a part of Christmas in Athens: The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).
For those who need a refresher, the FFRF is the Wisconsin-based atheist organization that in 2011 demanded the county
remove the nativity scene from the Christmas decorations.
Last year the FFRF changed its tactics, and when KAB and Light Up Athens made its request, the FFRF was also on hand to request one of its banners be included in the decorations. The spectacle caused the Commissioners’ Court meeting to be moved to a bigger room and television cameras filmed the entire process.
The proposed banner read: “At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”
That banner was eventually denied by County Judge Richard Sanders, an action which wasn’t well received by the FFRF.
“Henderson County’s decision to deny our permit is appalling,” FFRF Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor told me at that time. “County officials have continually given FFRF the run-around in an attempt to stonewall our application which they had no intention of approving. Using government power to promote religion and hinder criticism of religion is tyrannical, and is precisely what our secular Constitution prohibits.”
There were promises from the FFRF that the end had not been seen, but since that time not much has happened.
I contacted the FFRF last month and was told there had been no further action, although they reiterate that they were unhappy with the county’s decision to deny their request to display their banner on the square.
I checked with the county this week, and they haven’t heard from the FFRF in some time.
Is it possible that this entire issue is just going to fade away like the stripes on a candy cane?
I would be surprised if it did. Annie Laurie Gaylor does not seem to me to be the type of person who forgets or who gives up easily. … If I was a betting man, I’d lay money that the FFRF will be back before the end of the year.
But for this week, at least, it was nice for decorations to just be decorations.