Group to Drop Lawsuit Against Escondido On Yule Banner Slogans

Madalyn Murray O’Hair, atheist and champion of the separation of church and state, announced Friday that her Texas-based Society of Separationists will drop its federal lawsuit against the City of Escondido after the City Council this week adopted curbs on the slogans and words used on holiday banners displayed each December in the downtown business district.

She said the Escondido action in restricting the religious wording on the banners was a victory for her atheist cause, which became nationally famous with her 1963 success in obtaining a Supreme Court ruling banning prayer in public schools.

Now, the outspoken O’Hair said, her group will file another suit against Escondido in state court challenging the constitutionality of the newly adopted “acceptably secular” standards for the banners.

O’Hair said the modified words and symbols the City Council approved for use next month “are worse than they had before,” because they indicate that “only through Christianity can one attain peace.”

‘She’s a Crazy Lady’

Councilman Doug Best, dismayed at O’Hair’s stand, promised that “we are not going to roll over and take down the banners,” which have been displayed each Christmas season for the past three years. Best admitted that the city “will never be able to satisfy her; she’s a crazy lady,” unless the holiday decorations were done away with completely.

The clash between O’Hair and Escondido officials came to a head last December when Stephen Thorne, an Escondido resident and board member of O’Hair’s atheist organization, demanded that the city remove blatantly religious banners such as “Christ Lives,” “Jesus Is the Reason for the Season,” and “Christ Is the Answer,” from public property (city street light standards) or face a legal challenge for violating the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state. The lawsuit was filed in June in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

In the federal suit, the Society of Separationists charged that the holiday banner display “fosters excessive government entanglement with religion,” by using city property and city work crews to hang the “blatantly religious” banners. The banners themselves are provided by local churches, business and civic groups, but are stored away and hung by the city.

After the lawsuit was filed, city officials appointed a committee to propose “acceptable” words and phrases for the banners that would denote the holiday spirit. On Wednesday, the council voted 4-0, with Councilman Jerry Harmon absent, to incorporate new language into the city ordinance regulating street banners.

Acceptable Phrases, Symbols

Among the words and phrases approved were: Peace On Earth, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Peace, Love, Hope, Joys of the Season, Happy New Year and Shalom. Symbols termed acceptable included: creche, manger, dove, star and town, stable, wise men, wreath, Christmas tree, reindeer, snowman and candy cane. Pictures of a menorah and of a cross were recommended for limited use only.

O’Hair branded the new Escondido list as merely a way to evade a negative court ruling in the federal suit. O’Hair, who is an attorney and founder of the 60,000-member atheist organization, said the group would file its lawsuit against the newly adopted banner language in a California state court “because you seem to be more attuned to issues out there and I certainly wouldn’t want a (federal) judge appointed by Ronald Reagan.”

Escondido Mayor Jim Rady commented that, “although I feel uncomfortable about agreeing with her, she’s right and she has won. For three years we have had religious banners and they were on city property. Now, they no longer will be.”

Rady said that he and Harmon had fought for the past two years to gain a city attorney’s ruling that would force removal of the banners carrying religious messages, but had been thwarted by a three-member majority of the city council.

“At least now we have put in a good-faith effort to show that the leaders of this city are aware of the Constitutional constraints” requiring separation of church and state at all levels of government, Rady said.

Both Rady and Best agreed that the holiday banners, with amended words and pictures, should be displayed again this year, whether or not O’Hair threatens more legal action.

Rady added that “no one is satisfied” with the compromise banners, “but then, there’s the old saying: ‘A good deal is when everybody is unhappy.’ ”