SeaTac display avoids religion
SEATAC, Wash. – Trees, lights and a fake snowbank will be used in a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport winter display designed to be as nonreligious as possible, officials have decided.
Following a highly publicized flap last year over winter holiday decorations at the region’s largest airport, “we’re featuring peace and harmony,” said Michael Feldman, airport deputy managing director. “We’re using lights. Winters are so dark and dreary.”
No Santa Claus, Christmas tree, Hanukkah menorah or other religious displays will be allowed, Feldman said.
Instead, airport officials opted for what designer Randy Trostle calls a winterscape created by Displaymaker Productions of Seattle, handcrafted birch trees surrounded by lights in a pseudo-snowbank.
Coincidentally, state officials announced the settlement of a lawsuit with an agreement to allow a Christian Nativity scene and other religious displays in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Olympia during the coming holiday season. The lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal-rights group in Arizona.
Last December, airport officials ordered the removal of Christmas trees after Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky asked for the display of an 8-foot menorah as well. In the ensuing nationwide uproar, Bogomilsky received death threats, and the FBI was asked to investigate, said Harvey Grad, his lawyer.
Grad said he was prepared to sue, but Bogomilsky said he didn’t want to.
The trees returned after the rabbi insisted he never wanted them removed. The Port of Seattle, which operates the airport, established a Holiday Decorations Advisory Committee. Over the summer the panel determined that future decorations could include trees, fabrics and garlands so long as there were no religious ties.
“What I was hoping for was something that was cheerful and evocative of the holiday spirit, and as much to do with nature and evergreen trees as they could,” Port Commissioner Pat Davis said. “We wanted to move forward without something that would get us back into any sort of controversy, and I think it is very creative.
“I hope the public likes it – it will take a while to get used to.”
Grad took a dimmer view.
“I find the whole thing stupid,” the rabbi’s lawyer said. “My view is that there was a need for accommodations. This is a multicultural city, and the airport should have gone out of its way to recognize different religious and ethnic views. I thought they would address that this year, but they decided to sidestep the issue.”