Atheist Banner Vandal Has Been Charged with Criminal Mischief

January 24, 2013 By 32 Comments

Last month, Justin Vacula put up the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Winter Solstice banner in Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square (Pennsylvania):

That banner was hung high above the ground specifically so it wouldn’t get vandalized… but within a day, the banner was cut down and replaced with an American flag.

Not only did someone confess to the crime — there was videotaped evidence of it!

Shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday, a man who identified himself as Joe McDonald climbed about 30 feet up the sculpture, cut two wires holding one end of the banner, and left it dangling in the wind alongside an American flag that he had placed on the scaffolding.

“I just think in the light of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, that we shouldn’t be divided as a country over petty stuff like is there a God or isn’t there a God,” said McDonald. “If they wanted to put the sign down here with us, that’s fine because we’re united. But to put it above everybody? No, it’s symbolic.”

What was really frustrating at the time was how McDonald appeared to get away with it. There seemed to be no punishment against him.

But there’s now some good news to report: McDonald will have to explain his case to a judge:

Charges were filed on January 2, 2013 according to the Department of Justice website. The case status is listed as active under magistrate Kane. Joe is being charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief (and apparently has previously been charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian).

Here’s hoping he faces some sort of punishment — anything that will help stave off future vandals.

Filed Under: Atheist Advertising, FFRF, General 32 Comments
About Hemant Mehta

Hemant Mehta is the chair of Foundation Beyond Belief and a high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago. He began writing the Friendly Atheist blog in 2006. His latest book is called The Young Atheist's Survival Guide.

  • http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/ Kevin_Of_Bangor

    He will pay a fine and not learn anything from this. I highly doubt he will see jail time even with his priors.

    • http://squeakysoapbox.com/ Rich Wilson

      He’ll learn that he’s being persecuted for his minority religious views.

      • http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/ Kevin_Of_Bangor

        Stymied again.

    • Cecelia Baines

      He shouldn’t get jail time for this.

      He should get mandatory community service, and as I said, I believe it would be best if he were assigned 80 hours with a secular or atheist charity in his area. That punishment fits the property crime, which is what this is. No unjust sentences of jail or such, but give him something to think about while he works side by side with atheists and secularists bettering the community.

      • http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/ Kevin_Of_Bangor

        That would be nice but I doubt even community service will be handed down to him.

      • WoodyTanaka

        I disagree. I’d like to see him do 90 days in jail.

        • Cecelia Baines

          That would be an unjust sentence for the crime. America needs a “come to Jesus” moment is regards to unjust sentencing. It feeds vitriol and a cycle of lifelong incarceration in privatized and unjust prisons.

          • WoodyTanaka

            I believe it would be perfectly just. In fact, I believe that sentences are too soft and need to be hardened and prisons need to stop coddling prisoners with tv and weights and books. 10 hrs of hard work, 30 min in a yard and the rest staring at the wall of your cell in silence thinking about how you never want to return when your setence is up.

      • Zugswang

        Agreed; it is an appropriate punishment that will also help him learn that atheists are not the caricatures that they are often portrayed as.

        Calling for jail time for something like this is just vindictiveness masquerading as justice.

    • rlrose328

      Not only that, but he will be praised by his fellow believers as a hero to the cause. It’s disgusting.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/GodVlogger?feature=mhee GodVlogger (on YouTube)

    It should be considered a “Hate crime”, right?

  • Cecelia Baines

    Community service for an atheist charity – 80 hours. Fitting punishment for the crime.

  • 0xabad1dea

    “I just think that in the light of (unspeakable tragedy that had nothing to do with religion or atheism) people shouldn’t be allowed to express different views than mine.”

    • coyotenose

      Don’t forget “I’m desperately straining for a post hoc rationalization for my actions that will make me look persecuted and heroic.”

  • Patterrssonn

    “I just think in the light of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, that we shouldn’t be divided as a country over petty stuff like is there a God or isn’t there a God,”

    We need to stop talking about the existence or non-existence of god. It’s ripping America apart!

    What an idiot.

  • Michael

    He’ll be delighted. In his small world, this incident will be one of the highlights.

  • C Peterson

    “I just think in the light of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, that we shouldn’t be divided as a country over petty stuff like is there a God or isn’t there a God,” said McDonald.

    Says the only one involved in this matter to actually commit a divisive act through his criminal behavior. What hypocrisy!

    • http://twitter.com/martinrcota martycota

      Seriously. The FFRF group was trying to join the rest of the country by stating their beliefs on public forum during the holidays so we wouldn’t be divided from them.

  • Joe Zamecki

    McDonald has no legal defense here. His talking about it does no good. I hope he learns a lesson, and I hope a judge teaches it to him.

    And that lady interviewed who called the banner hate, ended up stepping all over her statement by implying that it’s all about a difference of opinion only – so where is the hate? Just because some people disagree with her and her religion, that means the message is hateful? No. She invalidated her own argument, in one sentence.

  • Daniel

    Can FFRF throw in a small civil case getting him to pay for a replacement banner?

    • JohnnieCanuck

      Probably not if it wasn’t damaged beyond a couple of ties.

  • Golfie98

    In danger of being flamed here, but.

    If you listen to what he said, his beef was the separation of the message from everyone else’s (which had been done to protect it) not the message or it’s right to be in the public place with everyone’s. He seemed to be saying that all of us, believers and non believers, should be together when a tragedy occurs.

    Given that religion is not going to disappear any time soon that seems like a fair way of looking at it even if I think he could have found a better way to get his point across.

    If we take him at his word, and I have no reason to doubt him as he seemed quite impassioned in his explanation, it would seem that he is of the view that all should have equal right of expression – he just thought that the ffrf message above everyone else was separatist. He probably never thought why the ffrf attempted to put it out of harms way he just saw it as trying to be above everyone else.

    The other point from the video is that he did not destroy the banner, he simply disconnected it from the pole – given the burnings and defacing that has gone on Atheist banners that ought to be considered.

    • Golfie98

      Oh and the woman has absolutely no idea just how confused she is.

    • allein

      If I recall correctly, the group did not choose where it actually went. And if that was really his issue, he should have talked to whoever was in charge of administering the space, not cut down a display and stick a flag over it.

      • http://squeakysoapbox.com/ Rich Wilson

        Seems to me he’s had plenty of time to apologize and make good if it really was all just a big misunderstanding.

  • Mario Strada

    Joe McDonald had a flag, ee i a ee i a o,
    Joe McDonald should go to jail, ee i a ee i a o.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Hugh-Kramer/1217598709 Hugh Kramer

    Old McDonald’s statement sounds pretty crazy so if they convict him, maybe they should just send him to the funny farm.
    E I E I O

  • DougI

    Since he already has his confession on videotape I’d be shocked if he isn’t found guilty.

  • baal

    I just re-read this piece. DOJ? shouldn’t this be a local misdemeanor handled by the local city / county police?

  • coyotenose

    Ah crap. Guys? We forgot to be skeptical about this! What if this guy is actually an atheist who destroyed his own banner for publicity and is now apologizing to himself? Huh? Huh?

    Checkmate, Groupthinkers!

  • HeroofCanton

    “I just think in the light of the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, that we shouldn’t be divided as a country over petty stuff like is there a God or isn’t there a God,” said McDonald. “Now excuse me while I go and do something petty to defend the god that I don’t mind if people do or don’t believe in.”

  • http://profiles.google.com/bcdurden Brian Durden

    Why is FFRF even still associating with Justin Vacula?