Man Cuts Down Banner Protesting Religious Decorations

[rug]

Posted on: 6:51 pm, December 20, 2012, by Bill Wadell, updated on: 06:42am, December 21, 2012

WILKES-BARRE — One day after a group protesting religious decorations in Public Square paid city officials to place a banner on a sculpture, a man that said he is angry with the message cut it down.

Justin Vacula said that he paid the city $50 to hang the banner from the Freedom From Religion Foundation for a week, as a public protest against the city for allowing a Christmas tree, nativity scene and menorah to be prominently displayed on public property.

“There are no Gods, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only but the natural world. Religion is myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds,” said Vacula. “No messages, religious or a-religious, should be placed in Public Square. But until the religious messages are still available, we’re going to put up a-religious messages in protest.”

Vacula said he and other members tried buying advertisements with the word “Atheism” to be placed on the sides of COLTS buses in Lackawanna County in March, but the County of Lackawanna Transit System board of directors said any religious message is against its advertising policy.

http://wnep.com/2012/12/20/man-cuts-down-banner-protesting-religious-decorations/

Video at link.

[Adsos Letter]

1. What do you think about this story, Rug?

Vacula recieved the city's permission and paid to place the sign, whether or not McDonald viewed it as divisive (according to his justification).

If his justification is an honest, accurate representation of his motive (assuming that was his only motive) then it appears he wanted a show of unity around freedom of expression.

I'm also curious about Ms. Bartoloma's opinion that “It’s a shame that someone has to protrude such hatred on such a beautiful holiday season, just because they don’t have the same thoughts or ideas as the majority of people who live in the area,” (I don't know how to punctuate this; replace the comma with a period, leave the comma but place an elipsis after the quotation mark, place the elipsis after the comma but before the quotation mark...and to add insult to my confusion the formatting isn't allowing me to use brackets instead of parentheses).

I wonder if she thinks religious speech should be subject to majority rule, or simply thinks Vacula's banner unnecessarily harshed the buzz of a traditional Christmas?

This story could be viewed as two contending perspectives on freedom of expression.

If I believed McDonald pined for a unity based on freedom of expression.

[rug]

2. Wilkes-Barre is pretty close to me. That public square is truly a deliberate public space.

I think what Justin Vacula did was simply a provocative stunt. The guy who cut the rope commited a misedemeanor or at least a summary offense, Frankly, I suspect Justin Vacula relished the additional attention this brought.

Overall, I don't think much of either stunt.

What I did find most interesting in the video is that the guy who cut the rope said it should have been in the public square alongside the additional symbols. He objected to where it was placed. I wonder why Justin Vacula didn't just ask to put it there in the first place. That would have been the better test of his motive.

[Adsos Letter]

3. "...the guy who cut the rope said it should have been in the public square

alongside the additional symbols."

You are correct; I was referring to McDonald (the rope cutter) when I said "If his justification is an honest, accurate representation of his motive (assuming that was his only motive) then it appears he wanted a show of unity around freedom of expression," but on re-reading it I can see how it might be read as Vacula making the statement.

Yeah, that's what I found interesting.The two people who objected to Vacula's banner (one by action, the other by opinion) appeared to represent opposite takes on freedom of expression.

Ironic and interesting.

EDIT: formatting and punctuation are harshing MY buzz...

[humblebum]

4. Vacula's motivations and personal problems run much deeper than his perceived need to

criticize religious expression in the public square.