[Vision2020] Atheists Want Sign at Capitol

[Paul Rumelhart]

Almost as much as when they try to ruin my winter solstice :)

Paul

Donovan Arnold wrote:
> Don't ya just hate it when groups try to ruin your Christmas?
>  
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holydays,
>  
> Donovan Arnold
>
> --- On *Sun, 12/6/09, Tom Hansen /<thansen at moscow.com>/* wrote:
>
>
>     From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
>     Subject: [Vision2020] Atheists Want Sign at Capitol
>     To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>     Date: Sunday, December 6, 2009, 2:09 PM
>
>     “In this holiday season let us remember that kindness, charity and
>     goodwill transcend belief, creed or religion.”
>
>     Courtesy of today's (December 6, 2009) Spokesman Review.
>
>     ------------------------------------------------
>
>     Atheists want sign at Capitol
>     Seattle group’s request coincides with tree-lighting
>
>     OLYMPIA – A Seattle-based atheists group asked state officials
>     Friday for
>     permission to display a placard outdoors on the Capitol campus
>     over the
>     holidays.
>
>     Jerry Schiffelbein, the treasurer for Seattle Atheists and an
>     activist in
>     other “free-thought” groups that advocate separation between
>     church and
>     state, said the sign’s message is less provocative than those that the
>     Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation put up last year.
>
>     The proposed 18-by-30-inch sign says, “In this holiday season let us
>     remember that kindness, charity and goodwill transcend belief,
>     creed or
>     religion.”
>
>     The request to put up the sign came the day that state officials
>     lit up a
>     48-foot holiday tree inside the domed Capitol rotunda, a yearly
>     tradition
>     now entirely under state sponsorship. The evening event featured Gov.
>     Chris Gregoire; Army Staff Sgt. Stephanie McDowell, who recently
>     returned
>     from Iraq; and a children’s chorale.
>
>     The atheists’ request – just like two requests to display a Jewish
>     menorah
>     Thursday through Dec. 19 – will be considered under the state policy
>     adopted after last December’s ruckus over holiday displays inside the
>     Capitol, Department of General Administration spokesman Steve Valandra
>     said Friday. He expects a decision on the requests Monday.
>
>     “We thought we would get more requests. There is still time,” he said.
>
>     Last December, the GA declared a moratorium because it had about a
>     dozen
>     requests from groups wanting to put up displays, and a third-floor
>     area
>     for displays was getting crowded. The GA had approved a half-dozen
>     of the
>     requests, including a Nativity set, an atheist placard that mocked
>     religion as superstition, Christian placards that mocked atheism,
>     and a
>     9-foot menorah.
>
>     Requests halted by the moratorium included a “Festivus” pole from
>     the mock
>     holiday celebrated on the TV show “Seinfeld,” a “flying spaghetti
>     monster,” and one from a Kansas church that assails homosexuality.
>
>     Before the controversy ended, someone stole the atheists’ placard.
>     Thousands of complaints flooded the governor’s office and the GA
>     after a
>     national television commentator condemned the state for allowing the
>     atheists’ display near the Nativity scene.
>
>     The GA has approved one display request so far this year. It was
>     one of
>     two submitted by Chabad Jewish Discovery Center in Olympia for a
>     9-foot
>     menorah. The approved request is for Sylvester Park, a state-owned
>     property in downtown Olympia; the other is for a menorah next to the
>     Tivoli Fountain on the campus lawn.
>
>     ------------------------------------------------
>
>     Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
>     Tom Hansen
>     Moscow, Idaho
>
>     "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it
>     to change
>     and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
>     - Unknown
>
>
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