County display must be inclusive

UPON LEARNING A Nativity scene had been removed last week from the courthouse lawn, lots of Christians in Luzerne County wrongly assumed their religion was being threatened.

Christianity – the dominant religion around the globe and in the United States – is alive and well in this area, judging by the swift, strong and sustained response to the county’s decision to dismantle its traditional holiday display.

Both a Christmas cr�che and a menorah marking Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, were temporarily tucked away after the American Civil Liberties Union contacted the county, objecting to the unconstitutional display and threatening legal action. The ACLU’s stance, backed by Supreme Court rulings, is unpopular with some people but in the best interests of all people.

This, after all, is a nation founded on the notion of religious tolerance – meaning people are free to follow the faiths of their choosing, or profess no faith whatsoever, without fear of persecution. The government can’t forbid you from worshipping as you choose, nor should it endorse any religion over another.

Clearly, Luzerne County erred by making the focus of its holiday d�cor a manger scene, prominently positioned outside its central government building, where it was safeguarded and lit by night, for all to see as they entered the building or even drove past. Certain government officials defended this type of display, serving to heighten the perception that local power brokers hold a special esteem for Christianity.

If so, what message does that send to Americans here who practice Islam? Buddhism? Taoism? What about atheists?

People of all spiritual and non-spiritual persuasions should enter the courthouse knowing that the government represents them, and they, regardless of their views on Jesus, can expect a fair trial, impartial services and an equal say. To certain people, a manger scene propped between them and the government’s doorstep could represent the visual equivalent of cigar-chomping, backwoods sheriff saying, “We don’t need none of your kind around here.”

Fortunately, in this nation where the majority rules, there are protections and guarantees for the minority voice. The ACLU works to uphold those protections, which means that it often comes to the defense of ideas that might strike many people as wrong, even reprehensible.

Yet its efforts are aimed at supporting the principles upon which this country was founded, that make it unique among nations and that have been exercised so robustly in the Wyoming Valley in recent days.

You have been free to flex your First Amendment rights, voicing opinions about this controversy via letters to the editor, coffee shop conversations and talk radio – without fear of government reprisal. You have been free to peaceably assemble and to demonstrate – without fear the government would suppress the gathering with guns, or tanks. You can display cherished religious symbols on private property and in houses of worship, gathering and praying without concern that the police will break in and haul you to jail.

You even were free to solicit legal representation, arriving at a way to exhibit a meaningful holiday display on the public’s courthouse lawn that can withstand constitutional challenges.

For all those, and many other freedoms available to you today, you can thank God. Or thank your lucky stars.

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Opinion

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