Atheists Make Plea for Booth at the Fair

The San Fernando Valley Fair board was asked Wednesday night to allow a new booth at this summer’s fair--one promoting atheism.

Atheists United, a national group with headquarters in Sherman Oaks, has failed for the last two years to obtain exhibit space at the annual fair. So this time members decided to make a personal appeal.

“Our display will be an asset to your fair and add a spark of interest,” said Gordon Stein, the group’s vice president and the author of six books on atheism, including the “Encyclopedia of Unbelief.”

“We do not wish here to threaten or disrupt, but to join,” added attorney Robert A. Seeman, an atheist himself.

The board members made no promises but assured the group that it will receive an application when forms are available in two to three weeks. They invited the group to make another presentation before the board approves booth assignments in the spring.

But board member Bert Potter warned, “We can’t make special considerations for you.”

140 Groups Turned Away

Although the attorney hinted at the possibility of a lawsuit if the group is shut out again, the fair’s director and board members insisted that the atheists have not been discriminated against. They said about 140 groups were turned away last year because they duplicated other groups or because there was not enough space at the fairgrounds on the campus of California State University, Northridge.

“When your application came before the committee, it was already filled up,” board member Isabel Boniface said.

However, atheist Fred Holden asserted that Ted Nauman, the fair’s publicity director, told him last year that the group would have a better chance of getting a booth if it dropped the word atheists from its name because it was “offensive.”

Board members said Nauman had no authority to make such comments. Nauman did not comment at the meeting but afterward said he did not recall such a conversation.

No Written Policy

Before the meeting, Mel Simas, the fair’s manager, said there are no written guidelines on how space is distributed. “We have no policy other than . . . we try to get exhibits that are family-oriented and best for the community.”

Board members said that at least one religiously oriented group had space at the fair last year.

Atheists United, which members say is the largest such group west of the Mississippi, has passed out literature at festivals in West Hollywood and West Los Angeles, and at Santa Monica’s Nativity scene.

The two goals of the organization are to promote atheism and to protect the separation of church and state. It was something members were mindful of when the Pledge of Allegiance was recited at the fair meeting. Instead of reciting “one nation, under God,” the atheists substituted “one nation, under the Constitution.”