"ACLU Nativity Scene" Displayed at UT

As noted last week, the Young Conservatives of Texas-University of Texas put up their ACLU Nativity Scene yesterday and it will be up again today at the West Mall.

The accompanying picture from the YCT-UT website shows "Gary and Joseph, Nancy Pelosi as an angel, the three wise men are Stalin, Lenin and Marx and a terrorist shepherd.

Obviously demonstrating the absurd with the absurd is the aim of the project, which of course has no baby Jesus and says "The Season" rather than Christmas. It's ashamed this is not as absurd as it should be, with the ACLU constantly at war with the Christian religion and Christmas displays around the nation.

Tony McDonald, Chairman of YCT-UT was kind enough to do a short email interview with Celebrate Democracy Prior to the display going up:

CD: Tony, how did the event come about
TM: I actually had the idea of doing an ACLU Nativity without a Jesus in the manger right before Christmas last year, when the War on Christmas was getting a lot of attention. I'm actually optimistic that last season may have been the peak if Christians continue to demand that their rights not be infringed upon.
As the year moved on, we continued to bat ideas around of how we could alter the scene entirely while I maintained the restriction that regardless of how entertaining each item in the scene was, it had to relate to either an issue from the war on Christmas or a specific ACLU position.
We've been actually working on the scene for the last couple of months, ordering plans, cutting the outlines, painting and building the manger.

CD: What has the reaction been since your announcement?
TM: The reaction has been 10-1 positive. I've gotten some hate mail from far-leftists and honestly, If I don't aggravate them then I'm not doing my job. I've also gotten a little apprehension from Christians who don't like us "denigrating a religious symbol." However, I think these are people who don't realize that this event is one of the most effective ways to get people's attention and make them talk about the role they want groups like the ACLU to play in shaping our society.

CD: How is your relationship/interactions with left or liberal groups at UT?
TM: I generally have a pretty healthy relationship with our University Democrats and other liberal groups, with the exception of the extremists that generally make up the ranks of Students for the ACLU or the International Socialists.I generally don't mind counter-protests when they are students...It is really only off-campus groups that attempt to be violent or irrational.
In Regard to teachers and administrators while many of the administrators that I deal with are liberals and don't approve of the message that we put forward, they have never cause us problems with the content of our events. UT is surprisingly good on Free Speech Issues for a liberal university. Many of my friends from YCT chapters across the state envy my position. While there is still some regulation on issues like amplified sound and space reservations, there isn't really any regulation on the content of speech.

Tony also has some comments about reaction to conservative speakers/groups on campus that placed UT in a surprisingly good light and also showed something of the character of this young man:

TM: As far as the general tempo of campus, I would say that we don't fit the myth that we have as an overwhelmingly liberal university. No neo-con can speak on campus, otherwise a group of 9/11 conspiracist students will show up and make trouble. We haven't faced too terrible of trouble holding events....people will challenge and yell at us, but all that requires is a spine. Since I have been at UT, we really haven't had any hateful or violent opponents.

Thanks to Tony for responding at a busy time that includes going into finals next week.

You can follow this link to see more pictures of the display.