FFRF Challenges Religious Holiday Displays in Illinois Government

by Lyz Liddell

On December 2, 2008, the Springfield Nativity Scene Committee, led by Dan Zanoza, erected a Christian nativity scene in the rotunda of the Illinois State Capitol building. The group's stated intent is to show others that religious displays shouldn't be banned from public buildings. The project is privately funded and has the appropriate permits from the Secretary of State's office.
The manner in which they put it up, of course, is not the issue.

The issue is the placement of a blatant religious symbol prominently in the center of a government building. The average person walking into the capitol is confronted with an apparent endorsement of Christianity by the Illinois government, thus implying that other religions - and, of course, unbelief - are inferior in the eyes of the state.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (www.ffrf.org) immediately responded by filing for a permit to put up a counter-display on the behalf of its members in the state of Illinois. The sign, identical to the display in Olympia, WA and Madison, WI, reads:

As a member of FFRF and an Illinois resident, I volunteered to go down to Springfield, IL, to set up the display. On Monday, December 8, I packed up an easel, packing tape, a few SSA brochures and a small sign that read "Thou Shalt Not Steal," and drove down to the capitol.

We tried to get students involved, but between the extremely short notice and the fact that the school semester has most students cramming for exams and scrambling to finish papers, we weren't able to get any students to help. And so, much like the photo of Dan Barker walking up the Washington capitol steps alone, I set up the Illinois sign all by my lonesome.

As I was assembling the display easel, I was approached by two separate news teams. We spoke about the intent of the sign, its wording, and our aims in putting it up in Illinois. From about the second question in, I could tell that the interviewer was more interested in the controversy (might I say, the religious people who were offended by the sign) than in the reasons we felt compelled to put the sign up in the first place. I didn't have any particular interest in feeding their controversy, though, so I made our case quite clear, played up the successes (such as the hundreds of new members in Washington) and pointed out that most of the people who got upset over the sign also had strange ideas like a remarkable disbelief in the separation of church and state in the first place.

About halfway through that conversation, we had our encounter with the Token Angry Man. He came up as if he had been looking for us (possible, given the press releases that FFRF sent out the day before) and immediately started attacking the sign and the FFRF viewpoint. At first he asked why taxpayer money had to go to support hate speech, which I quickly told him was incorrect (both the nativity scene and the FFRF display are privately funded).

The news cameras, of course, were quite interested in the Angry Man, as he played right into their angle. He repeatedly accused the sign of being hate speech, and an inappropriate form of celebrating the solstice. I had to keep from rolling my eyes as I explained that we weren't celebrating the solstice, that we were instead making a statement about the appropriateness of the nativity scene. His culminating statement was a dismissal of the phrase "may reason prevail," which left me wondering if he consciously realized that it meant he was endorsing the prevalence of irrationality. I'm pretty sure he didn't.

Angry Man stormed off after asking who he could talk to about having the display taken down. I'm sure some poor administrative person in the Department of Physical Services had her hands full explaining that we were protected by the same right to free speech that protected his precious nativity scene.

The rest of the day went fairly uneventfully. I got the sign assembled and set up, took some photos, and noticed a few passersby already stopping to read the display. Then I packed up and ate a delicious lunch at the Holy Land Diner - no pun intended, but excellent baklava!

I spent some time considering what I would have done differently if I were to do this again. I'm sure that next time I would be better prepared to handle people like Angry Man - after all, I'm not much of a debater. Having stood in front of cameras once, I think I could express things better next time, perhaps in more "sound-byte" appropriate clips.

But the thing I would most like to ensure for next time is more of a presence. I wanted to involve students, residents of Illinois, and show that it wasn't just one crazy person putting up a sign. With a little more notice and preparation, I think we can have a solid representation of nontheists to show the public that we are out here, and not so easily ignored.

Lyz Liddell is the Senior Campus Organizer of the Secular Student Alliance, and a writer, editor, musician, handyman and barista in her spare time.