The manger scene went back up at the Luzerne County courthouse Monday but the only way that happened is if secular* decorations went up as well.
After three days of protest and controversy the nativity scene and menorah are back on the front lawn of the courthouse.
Now Santa, reindeer, candy canes and more are there too to make the display more inclusive to more people complying with ACLU demands.
Workers brought the nativity scene back out of storage. They lit the menorah again too.
"It's wonderful. It's about time and to me there's no such thing as separation of church and state during the holidays," said Lisa Kazmerick of Dallas.
This time crews doing the decorating had to add some extras. Some non-religious symbols of the season are there now too. Santa now stands next to the manger, a snowman does too. A Happy Kwanzaa sign and so much more now grace the courthouse lawn.
"We'll add more to it if we have to. We've tried to find as much as we could. That's the best we can do," said Ed Holleran, Director of Building and Grounds.
"The display looks absolutely wonderful. It's inclusive. We have candy canes, snowmen, everything else. It's not on the corner lit up at night favoring one religion," said King's College student Justin Vacula.
He started the uproar in the first place. He came to check out the updated display days after he went to the American Civil Liberties Union saying the décor was too religious.
"There certainly won't be a lawsuit, there wasn't one in the process. We simply sent a letter to the courthouse saying, um okay, yeah," Vacula added before he was interrupted by some choice words from a passerby.
The removal of the religious symbols did cause outrage and protests.
A law firm offered to help the county with legal costs if there was a lawsuit over all this.
Instead, there is a compromise.
"It was outrageous and it's about time we're back to normalcy again," Kazmerick added.
"It's wonderful, something for the whole community and the courthouse actually did something right this time," Vacula said.
All morning people were driving by honking their horns, giving a thumbs up to workers putting up the display.
They said it's not going anywhere now until the holidays are over.
After three days of protest and controversy the nativity scene and menorah are back on the front lawn of the courthouse.
Now Santa, reindeer, candy canes and more are there too to make the display more inclusive to more people complying with ACLU demands.
Workers brought the nativity scene back out of storage. They lit the menorah again too.
"It's wonderful. It's about time and to me there's no such thing as separation of church and state during the holidays," said Lisa Kazmerick of Dallas.
This time crews doing the decorating had to add some extras. Some non-religious symbols of the season are there now too. Santa now stands next to the manger, a snowman does too. A Happy Kwanzaa sign and so much more now grace the courthouse lawn.
"We'll add more to it if we have to. We've tried to find as much as we could. That's the best we can do," said Ed Holleran, Director of Building and Grounds.
"The display looks absolutely wonderful. It's inclusive. We have candy canes, snowmen, everything else. It's not on the corner lit up at night favoring one religion," said King's College student Justin Vacula.
He started the uproar in the first place. He came to check out the updated display days after he went to the American Civil Liberties Union saying the décor was too religious.
"There certainly won't be a lawsuit, there wasn't one in the process. We simply sent a letter to the courthouse saying, um okay, yeah," Vacula added before he was interrupted by some choice words from a passerby.
The removal of the religious symbols did cause outrage and protests.
A law firm offered to help the county with legal costs if there was a lawsuit over all this.
Instead, there is a compromise.
"It was outrageous and it's about time we're back to normalcy again," Kazmerick added.
"It's wonderful, something for the whole community and the courthouse actually did something right this time," Vacula said.
All morning people were driving by honking their horns, giving a thumbs up to workers putting up the display.
They said it's not going anywhere now until the holidays are over.
