{"id":663,"date":"2009-12-18T03:38:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T07:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skepticblogs.com\/justinvacula\/2009\/12\/18\/times-leader-interview-my-side-of-the-story-1218\/"},"modified":"2009-12-18T03:38:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-18T07:38:00","slug":"times-leader-interview-my-side-of-the-story-1218","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/2009\/12\/18\/times-leader-interview-my-side-of-the-story-1218\/","title":{"rendered":"Times Leader Interview: My Side of the Story – 12\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"
This link no longer works, but the text of the article is below.<\/div>\n

http:\/\/www.timesleader.com\/news\/Complainant__Law_is_issue_with_Nativity_12-18-2009.html<\/a><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t Justin Vacula\u2019s distaste for religion that brought him to question the manger scene and menorah on the Luzerne County Courthouse lawn, but his respect for the law.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cI saw the Nativity scene that was lighted up,\u201d said the King\u2019s College student. \u201cI figured it was unconstitutional, so I made the complaint to the ACLU to check on this, and they informed that was, in fact, the case. \u2026 I feel it\u2019s our duty as American citizens to stay true to the Constitution.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula doesn\u2019t believe in a god, but has no problem with others who do. \u201cThey\u2019re fine to worship, to pray, that\u2019s fine, but not on the courthouse lawn,\u201d he said. \u201cI made the complaint because it\u2019s a very busy road. Many people are getting the message from the courthouse that this is a Christian area or that we endorse a certain religion.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
He said that a \u201csymbol of thematic unity\u201d for the season would have been fine and acknowledged that wreaths and plastic snowmen were also adorning the lawn, but not close enough to defuse the connotations of the religious symbols.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an attack on Christians; it\u2019s a constitutional violation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a neutral message of any sort.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula said he hopes to be involved in helping design next year\u2019s courthouse holiday decorations.<\/span><\/div>\n
He said he spends a lot of time discussing spirituality, philosophy and religion with professors and fellow students, and attends monthly meetings of the NEPA Free Thought Society.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not an evil person; I\u2019m not out killing babies. I\u2019m just like everyone else. I just don\u2019t believe in God,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI hope it\u2019s not ruining Christmas.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said there\u2019s no reason it should because people are more than welcome to express their beliefs on their private property, \u201cbut don\u2019t expect my clients\u2019 tax dollars to pay for it.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI understand people feel very strongly about religion,\u201d she said. \u201cThe difference is when the government speaks, it\u2019s supposed to speak for us all.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Vacula isn\u2019t the first to complain about the situation, she said. \u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve gotten many complaints about the cr\ufffdche (Nativity scene) from both Christians and non-Christians, but no one before was willing to brave the abuse that accompanies standing up,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s really no challenge in having respect for the majority. The challenge is in having respect for the minority.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Rory Sweeney<\/em>, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This link no longer works, but the text of the article is below. http:\/\/www.timesleader.com\/news\/Complainant__Law_is_issue_with_Nativity_12-18-2009.html It wasn\u2019t Justin Vacula\u2019s distaste for religion that brought him to question the manger scene and menorah on the Luzerne County Courthouse lawn, but his respect for the law. \u201cI saw the Nativity scene that was lighted up,\u201d said the King\u2019s […]<\/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-663","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\/663","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=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/justinvacula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}