The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to allow holiday displays on the county courthouse grounds.
The 8-1 vote on the hot-button issue keeps last year’s policy, which allowed 10 displays at the courthouse on a first-come, first-served basis.
The lone opposing vote came from Supervisor Stevens Miller, D-Dulles, who said courthouses are places to conduct court, not display anything that could confuse or intimidate a witness or judge.
“The idea that someone’s due process right … is somehow insignificant compared to someone’s right to promote their religious view in a particular place is disturbing,” Miller said.
The battle over religious displays in Loudoun began last fall, when a citizens advisory board voted to ban them at the courthouse. The supervisors eventually designated 10 areas for displays.
The “war on Christmas” came back this year because of space and security issues. Supervisor Jim Burton, I-Blue Ridge, pointing out the vandalism and theft of a display in 2009, said if similar acts occur this year he will propose the policy be reviewed again next year and request that all displays be banned.
About 200 people attended Tuesday night’s public hearing, with about 50 speaking on the issue.
Judges from all of Loudoun County’s courts had asked the supervisors to ban the displays, writing that they could interfere with citizens trying to get to the courthouse.
But Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli last month issued an opinion that religious displays should be allowed as long as they reflected the beliefs of others. The American Civil Liberties Union also expressed support for displays on the grounds that the courthouse is one of the few public forums left.
During the board’s Wednesday meeting, Supervisor Andrea McGimsey, D-Potomac, said she wanted the courthouse grounds to remain a peaceful place where the public could gather, adding that she wants it to also be a place for “protected free speech.”
Burton, said he felt “conflicted” with the policy because he “strongly believe[s] that government and religion should not mix.”
And he’s worried about vandalism.
“People who appear before us who preach the First Amendment need to abide by the First Amendment when they see things that they don’t like,” he said.
