{"id":486,"date":"2010-11-25T10:14:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-25T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skepticblogs.com\/justinvacula\/2010\/11\/25\/times-leader-interview-112510\/"},"modified":"2010-11-25T10:14:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-25T14:14:00","slug":"times-leader-interview-112510","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/2010\/11\/25\/times-leader-interview-112510\/","title":{"rendered":"Times Leader Interview 11\/25\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

A holiday from controversy<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n

Luzerne County\u2019s diverse lawn display apparently satisfies religious and secular people alike.<\/span><\/h3>\n
By Jennifer Learn-Andes<\/a> jandes@timesleader.com<\/a>
Luzerne County Reporter<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A seasonal display has returned to the Luzerne County Courthouse lawn, with the traditional Nativity mixed in with Santa, <\/div>\n
a Menorah and candy canes.<\/div>\n
AIMEE DILGER\/THE TIMES LEADER<\/div>\n
A seasonal display that includes a Nativity has returned to the Luzerne County Courthouse lawn, and King\u2019s College<\/a> senior Justin Vacula said he\u2019s fine with it.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula was the target of backlash last year when he initiated a complaint about the display that led to its removal.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
After legal research, county officials set up a more diverse display that is being repeated this year.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
According to a resolution recently adopted by commissioners, the display must now include a menorah, Santa Claus, snowman, snowflake, Christmas tree with a Kwanzaa symbol ornament and a sign that reads, \u201cLuzerne County celebrates its cultural heritage this holiday season.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Courthouse workers say finishing touches to the display will be made early next week.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula said he has no problem with this arrangement, as opposed to last year\u2019s initial display that isolated and illuminated the Nativity.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cThis seems to be the way to go. Now everything is together as a unified display,\u201d said the 22-year-old Exeter native.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
His decision to turn to the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State last year turned him into somewhat of an outcast.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula said he was inundated with hate mail, paper and electronic, and one local radio station described him as the third most hated local person after former county judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, who were implicated in the federal corruption probe. People called for him to be expelled from King\u2019s College, he said.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
There were also demonstrations outside the courthouse before the Nativity was returned to the courthouse lawn, and a page was set up on the Facebook social networking website to criticize Vacula, he said.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI received a lot of after-death threats. People said I\u2019d be tormented for eternity, and that they wanted to watch it happen. People said they hoped I\u2019d get shot and hit by a van and die,\u201d Vacula said.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
In retrospect, Vacula said people turned it into a religious debate, when he thought of it as a legal one.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cIt was a legal issue. Whether you\u2019re a believer or not, I think everyone should be in support of separation of church and state. People didn\u2019t understand that,\u201d Vacula said.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
He said he doesn\u2019t regret his stance, though he wishes he had been better prepared for the \u201chysteria.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI thought there would be a backlash, but I didn\u2019t think it was going to be as big as it was,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula, an atheist who posts his views at greenatheist.blogspot.com, said he accomplished his goal: ensuring that the county complied with the law.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
He said many came forward to support him in that goal, though some didn\u2019t openly show it.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cPeople said I was taking away Christmas. That\u2019s impossible to do. People can put anything they want in their yards. They can meet with their family at Christmas and go to Mass,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Jennifer Learn-Andes<\/span><\/span><\/em>, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A holiday from controversy Luzerne County\u2019s diverse lawn display apparently satisfies religious and secular people alike. By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.comLuzerne County Reporter A seasonal display has returned to the Luzerne County Courthouse lawn, with the traditional Nativity mixed in with Santa, a Menorah and candy canes. AIMEE DILGER\/THE TIMES LEADER A seasonal display that includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,22,25,31,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-local","category-me-in-the-media","category-nativity","category-separation-of-church-and-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}