From Jesus to Jedi, Loudon County OKs displays

Posted: 6:59 pm Wed, September 8, 2010
By Associated Press

LEESBURG, Va. — The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to continue a policy that lets people erect religious and secular displays during the holidays on the grounds of the county courthouse.

The board already has received applications not only for a Nativity scene but also for displays by an atheist group and one promoting a religion based on the Jedi Knights from the “Star Wars” movies.

A county committee had recommended banning such displays because they feared the process would become unwieldy and unpopular displays would be vandalized. One display was vandalized last year when the controversy first erupted.

Some Christian residents had worried that a ban on holiday displays would prevent residents from putting up a Nativity scene during the holidays as has been done often in the past.

At a meeting Wednesday, the board voted 8-1 to continue allowing displays.

Supervisor Stevens Miller, a Democrat, voted against the policy.

He said a policy allowing religious displays at the courthouse could interfere with the administration of justice and perhaps intimidate or confuse jurors or witnesses into believing that certain religions were favored by government.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia had urged the board to keep the courthouse grounds as a public forum that could be used by people of all religions or people who wanted to promote a secular message.

Dozens of people at a public forum urged the board to keep the courthouse grounds open for religious displays.

“God save the county if you close that forum,” said Republican Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, who voted to allow the displays.

Eric Santiago of Leesburg, who applied to erect a display promoting Jediism, said in an e-mail interview Wednesday that he’d like to put up mannequins of Luke and Leia Skywalker, or perhaps a nativity scene involving Anakin Skywalker, who eventually becomes Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” films.

Santiago said he wants to erect a Jedi scene “to display a religious sentiment for the holiday season and promote a specific ideology.”