You all know I’m not in the habit of asking people to share my blog, but on this occasion I would appreciate if it very much if you would take the time to write a letter and to share this post far and wide. Because it’s so close to home, this one’s a bit personal for me.

Ok, first some recap for everybody who hasn’t been following the Baxter County nativity hullabaloo (for a full rundown, click here).

On the lawn of the Baxter County courthouse (located in my hometown of Mountain Home) is a nativity scene.

A resident of the county approached County Judge Mickey Pendergrass asking to put up a Happy Winter Solstice banner on the courthouse lawn as well to represent their beliefs. Pendergrass told them no. His reasoning?

The judge said he rejected a citizen request for the display of a “Happy Winter Solstice” banner on the courthouse grounds because he believed making the courthouse available for any and all requests for occasional exhibits would result in “hundreds” of displays.

Because in Mountain Home equal representation and the Constitution take a back seat to Judge Pendergrass’ convenience.

So the resident contacted the FFRF and the AHA and arranged a meeting with the County Judge. Pendergrass then told them to inquire with local attorney (and hardcore Christian) F.S. Spencer who puts up the nativity every year. Spencer has no legal authority for the county.

The AHA’s legal team then sent a letter to the county which essentially told them that if they’re not willing to let everybody play, the nativity must come down. This exploded into a huge issue locally, complete with Christians talking about running the resident out of town and even talk of gun play toward a person who only asked for legal representation and, when it was denied, insisted upon it. One Christian woman, in response to my comments on the local paper’s web page, even contacted me and attempted to employ my grandfather’s ghost against me.

The local media has been incredibly slanted on the subject (that will come up more in the coming days, but I’m not quite ready to write about it yet). The Baxter Bulletin did an interview with Pendergrass which was clearly a “what questions would you like to be asked?” scenario. In the interview Pendergrass harped on a continual (and irrelevant) talking point: he said that all the personal correspondence and email he’s getting has been supportive of the nativity scene. Because, apparently, in Baxter County if enough people want to break the law (and if Jesus approves), that makes it ok. Thanks, Judge.

So all he’s getting is supportive emails? Let’s fix that. Please take the time to send an email to judge@baxtercounty.org. Here’s what I sent:

Mr. Pendergrass, I am writing to express my displeasure with your recent decisions involving the lawn of the Baxter County courthouse. First, I hope you are inquiring with the County’s actual legal representation and not with F.S. Spencer. Upon doing so, you will all-but-certainly learn that the established legal precedent surrounding government endorsement of religion is very simple: the government must represent all of them equally. This means that by allowing Christianity access to government property but denying other belief sets, regardless of how inconvenient abiding by the law may be for you as a result, you are violating the Constitution. If providing equal representation is too stressful for you by giving everybody space, an alternative would be to provide equal representation by giving none of them space on government property. You have acknowledged in the Baxter Bulletin that most other counties go this route, which tells me you’ve already conversed with some lawyers who are trying to steer you away from a foredoomed lawsuit and not toward utilizing taxpayer money to give their/your religion a leg up. Speaking of a foredoomed lawsuit, when you speak with your official legal representatives (not F.S. Spencer) they will also all-but-certainly confirm for you that should this case go to trial it will open and shut in favor of the plaintiffs. A little research on your own would confirm this, but I understand it’s always better to hear it from the lips of the people the County pays to be experts. That loss will cost all the taxpayers of Baxter County (not just the Christians) a significant amount of money. I hope the reality of this situation weighs upon you in your capacity as a representative of the government and as a County Judge. You have a responsibility to not waste that money just as you have a responsibility to represent all your citizens equally. I hope you do better at the former than you have with the latter. You have given some arguments in the news that I’d like to take a moment to rebut. You say that the majority want the display to remain. Even if that were true, the law cannot be subverted by that fact. The rights of American citizens to be represented equally by their government whatever their religious beliefs is protected no matter how many people wish otherwise. As a County Judge, you should know this. You have said that if the residents who wanted to put up the Happy Winter Solstice banner went through the proper legal channels there would be no issue. Sir, you are the proper legal channel and the residents went and spoke with you directly. You told them to inquire with attorney F.S. Spencer who has no legal authority for the county. You said that you told the people wanting to put up a Winter Solstice banner “no banners” which is a very loose interpretation of the conversation that took place. In the pictures of the nativity it is easy to see an angel holding a banner bearing a religious message. Did you mean “no banners unless a plastic angel is holding them?” And why are plastic figures allowable as an expression of one’s beliefs but not banners? That seems like a very arbitrary (and, if I didn’t know any better, self-interested) line to draw. Lastly, I would like to assure you that this will not be a local issue (as you will discover as today progresses). The decisions you make will represent Mountain Home to the world. The comments of your Christian citizens, with all of their hate, all of their factual errors, all of their contempt for anybody perceived to be an outsider, will be broadcast to potential future residents and be enshrined in search engines for anybody considering moving to Mountain Home who may have missed the controversy that you have manufactured. You have an opportunity here to show the world that Baxter County’s elected officials are inclusive rather than willing to strain/break the law in the pursuit of being sectarian. I hope you will make the proper decision for Baxter County (and for America) and announce that even in the Bible Belt the Constitution applies, that all citizens are equal in Baxter County and will be treated that way by their elected officials. I hope those things are more important to you than the religion of many residents of Baxter County which has set them in opposition to those ideals. And, if not, there’s always a lost lawsuit. I hope your integrity and your dedication to the success of Baxter County are worth more to you than pandering for votes with taxpayer dollars. Sincerely, JT Eberhard

Please stay on point and don’t write just to rage at him. Tell him the nativity alone, while denying other groups, is unconstitutional. Let him know that if he’s going to abandon the charge of his position in order to serve his religion that he will not be able to do so in secret, and that it will reflect poorly on the County he represents to the rest of the world. For many, believing that Jesus is watching doesn’t get them to even consider doing the right thing. But knowing that people the world over are watching? That can often motivate people to not be moral in a ways where faith is impotent.