{"id":656,"date":"2009-12-21T02:18:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T06:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skepticblogs.com\/justinvacula\/2009\/12\/21\/1220-furor-over-religious-objections-continues\/"},"modified":"2009-12-21T02:18:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-21T06:18:00","slug":"1220-furor-over-religious-objections-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/2009\/12\/21\/1220-furor-over-religious-objections-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"12\/20 “Furor over religious objections continues”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

December 20, 2009<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

Furor over religious objects continues<\/a><\/h2>\n

More come to defense of right of county to display Nativity, menorah on courthouse lawn.<\/h3>\n

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

Holiday religious displays have been set up for decades on public property throughout Luzerne County, and Hazleton Mayor <\/span>Lou Barletta<\/span><\/a> doesn\u2019t think communities should be denied that seasonal tradition now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A menorah, Nativity scene, Christmas tree and Santa Claus are on display outside the Hazleton City Hall, just as they have been annually for at least 20 years, Barletta said Saturday night.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s reassured residents that the southern Luzerne County city\u2019s display isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hotly contested issue over religious displays on public property emerged last week when the American Civil Liberties Union and another group threatened to file suit against Luzerne County to remove the Nativity and menorah on the courthouse lawn in Wilkes-Barre. The displays were removed, but one county official said they will be returned as part of a display featuring other secular objects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe we are singling out any one religion. There is the menorah. There is the Nativity scene for the Christians and for the non-believers there is also nothing there. I don\u2019t think the city is singling out one faith. I think they are all represented on the lawn,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He added the city would also display other religious objects by people wishing to honor their religions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shickshinny resident Kellie Jubis wrote county Solicitor Vito DeLuca a letter Friday to express her displeasure with having the Nativity scene being removed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we as Christians and citizens of this United States do not speak up and demand to rightfully display our Christian heritage on public property, we will eventually lose all of our freedom,\u201d she wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you didn\u2019t already notice, Christianity is now the target, and they will win if we choose to do and saying nothing,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Bob Zanicky of the First Presbyterian Church \u2013 Wilkes-Barre agreed with Jubis, saying America was founded on Christian beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need not be ashamed nor fearful in recognizing the permeating presence of the Judeo\/Christian heritage in our history. Sectarian considerations were not the consensus early on, nor are they today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jubis went on to say she hopes Luzerne County officials make the right choice to put the Nativity back on display. The birth of Jesus is the greatest historical event that \u201cshows the world the beginning of character, integrity, love and sacrifice,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

DeLuca said Saturday night he has been working with a representative from the Rosenn Jenkins & Greenwald law firm, ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State to create a display that is acceptable to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wilkes-Barre law firm offered free representation to the county and donated $1,000 to purchase other holiday secular items to be included in the display.<\/span><\/p>\n

DeLuca expects to approve a design prepared by the county grounds official within 24 hours. If the design is acceptable, the county\u2019s Christmas display should be back in place on courthouse grounds Monday morning<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to come up with a display that does not offend any religious groups and is constitutional permissible,\u201d DeLuca said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sherry Long<\/span><\/em>, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 20, 2009 Furor over religious objects continues More come to defense of right of county to display Nativity, menorah on courthouse lawn. Holiday religious displays have been set up for decades on public property throughout Luzerne County, and Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta doesn\u2019t think communities should be denied that seasonal tradition now. A menorah, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,31,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","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\/656","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=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}