Atheists’ sign stolen, revving up controversy

OLYMPIA – The controversy over an atheist group’s display in the state Capitol continued Friday, as a thief made off with the sign, which was dropped off hours later at a Seattle radio station.

By late Friday afternoon, state police had recovered the metal sign – now sporting a crease in the middle – and returned it to its perch in an alcove on the Statehouse’s third floor. It sits alongside a Nativity scene, near the 30-foot, gift-surrounded “holiday tree” in the rotunda.

In an attempt to protect the sign, the Freedom from Religion Foundation had taped a small note to it that reads: “Thou shalt not steal.”

The sign reads: “At this season of the winter solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

That message, after being highlighted by Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly this week, has prompted thousands of calls to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office. Christian groups plan a rally at the Capitol on Sunday.

The sign is “absolutely disgusting,” said outgoing state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane. “If I was governor, the first thing I would do, I would order that taken out.”

Gregoire, a Catholic, says she disagrees with the sign but respects the group’s First Amendment rights to post it alongside the Nativity scene. The state cannot discriminate between such messages, she said.

Spurred by the controversy, at least seven other people have asked for permission to put up displays. Most appear to be Christian displays, but one Olympia man wants to erect a pole celebrating Festivus, a fictional holiday made famous in a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld.”

Washington State Patrol Sgt. Ted DeHart said that in the wake of Friday’s early morning theft, security cameras in the Capitol have been repositioned to keep watch over the displays. State workers also erected a rope barrier to keep people from getting too close.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has been displaying a nearly identical sign annually in the state Capitol in Wisconsin for years, group co-president Dan Barker said. Someone once defaced that sign with acid. It’s now protected with a piece of Plexiglas.

In Wisconsin, he said, critics initially kept turning the sign around to face the wall, so the group printed a similar message on the back. Problems have been few, Barker said.

“Here in Wisconsin, it’s become something of a tourist attraction,” he said, describing busloads of visitors posing for pictures with the sign. “Maybe that’s a Wisconsin thing.”

The group often puts messages such as “Imagine no religion” on billboards, including during this year’s Democratic and Republican national conventions. But only Wisconsin and Washington have allowed the sign in their Statehouses.

Among the critics Friday: the Rev. Ken Hutcherson of Redmond.

“We want to be respected also, and it looks as though Christianity and religious people are the only ones that you can be intolerant against and everyone thinks it’s OK,” he said. “The only reason why that’s going on is because we have allowed it, and I think it’s time for us to say enough’s enough.”

DeHart said the WSP was looking for the person who stole the sign and apparently took it to KMPS, a country music station. “It is a crime,” he said. “It is theft.”

Drawn by the controversy, visitors to the Capitol gawked at the displays Friday, some taking photos with cell phones.

Olympia’s Duane Smithem said he was offended by the atheist message. “If they don’t have any reason to believe in God, why do they have to do battle with those who do?” he said.

Also annoyed was Jim Pritchard, who wore an elf hat and was holding a small bag marked “coal.”

“I do not think it (the sign) should be allowed,” he said. “… It has no place here.”

At the Freedom from Religion Foundation headquarters, the phones have also been ringing off the hook, Barker said.

Some of the calls are angry, Barker said. But many are from sympathizers.

“Whoever stole the sign did us a big favor, not only in the exposure but in the sympathy,” he said. “People read about this and they are motivated to say, ‘You can’t do that, you can’t stop free speech.’ ” He said the group is “registering new members all over the place.”

The Wisconsin organization’s stated mission is to protect “the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church.”