Views not congenial, but tranquillity reigns

OLYMPIA – The holiday displays that have competed for attention on the state’s Capitol campus are now co-existing peacefully.

A Nativity scene was set up this week a couple hundred feet away from a display that declares “There are no gods.” Ron Wesselius, who has helped provide the Nativity exhibit for the past few years, said he would like to have it inside the Capitol building but is otherwise pleased with how the system is working.

“Everyone has the same rights,” he said.

State officials have been grappling in recent years with how to balance the First Amendment issues of religion and free speech. In 2008, displays within the Capitol escalated into a controversy and the state eventually declared a moratorium on the exhibits.

Since then, the Department of Enterprise Services has banned holiday displays from inside the Capitol and required them to be set up outside. Steve Valandra, a spokesman for the department, said they haven’t had any problems with the new system and are satisfied that it strikes the right balance.

“It’s a lot better than the circus we had three years ago,” he said.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the group put up its sign, which celebrates the winter solstice, in protest that public property would be dedicated for a Christian devotion.

A menorah was also allowed to be placed at the state’s Sylvester Park.