Bethel Committee Prioritizes Christian, Atheist Displays

BETHEL, CT —The board of selectmen will meet this week to review recommendations on how to handle applications they receive for religious displays on town property.

One of the applications is from Bill Hillman, who is running a GoFundMe to raise money for a six-foot menorah he hopes to see erected on P.T. Barnum Square this winter. He says the idea of a public menorah was in the back of his mind for a decade. He and his family have been displaying their own in the front window of their home since they moved to Bethel in 1992.

Two years ago he posted on Facebook about his idea. But even though he says he received overwhelmingly positive responses then, it wasn't the right time. Last year, Hillman says that he "really didn't want to get into the middle of the controversy over the non-religious display."

In 2018, the American Atheists Legal Center got involved when the town rejected an application for a non-religious display from a Bethel resident on the grounds the application was missing an insurance form and an image of the display. Bethel eventually approved the display, a four-foot by eight-foot banner that reads "To our Bethel community, Happy holiday season! (whatever you celebrate) From your friendly atheist neighbors."

The action divided the community between those who welcomed the less-traditional, more diverse focus in the town square, and others who saw it more as a means to tweak noses than deliver a holiday message.

The new display by the atheist group didn't ruffle Hillman's feathers, however. "You've got people who enjoy the winter holiday who profess any of a number of religions or no religion at all," Hillman told Patch."It's all good stuff. We're all good neighbors."

Part of the fallout from last winter's creche kerfuffle was the creation of a Religious Display Committee to study the situation and then make formal recommendations to the Board of Selectmen.

In a recently rendered decision, the committee approved of the town allowing the use of P.T. Barnum Square and other town property for winter holiday displays. It also recommended that, if the town receives new applications beyond a number that can be easily accommodated, all displays beyond the preexisting Christian and atheist displays be chosen by lottery.

Hillman does not have an inkling if there are many other religious display applications in the pipeline, but he hopes the town will be proactive about naming a deadline for them. After raising nearly $2,000 on the GoFundMe campaign, he purchased the six-foot menorah, which arrived with hardware for both inside and outside display. The external display makes use of a long spike to anchor it in the ground. Hillman foresees setting the display in the square where no part of the spike/base would be visible in the non-winter months. He looks forward to a first night lighting of the menorah on Dec. 22, and plans on being able to pay musicians, along with insurance, for that celebration with the remainder of the money he hopes will come in via GoFundMe.

A principal data scientist with IBM, and a former chair of the Bethel Republican Town Committee, Hillman says he was not looking for any controversy, hoping only to "add more light on top of light" at the winter holiday display.

The Board of Selectmen will review the recommendations of the Religious Display Committee at a meeting next month. Hillman says, for the most part, he's not worried. "I hope it is favorable, and I have no reason to believe it would be unfavorable at this point."

"But this is Bethel," he added, "so you never know what's going to happen until it happens."

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