Discount A Matter Of Faith

A Tennessee county fair recently came under fire from atheists and others for a “God & Country Day” promotion they believed amounted to a “Christian discount” to the event and a slight to non-Christian military personnel.

Wilson County Fair officials denied the promotion – in which churchgoers were to receive a $2 admission discount for presenting their church bulletins at the gate – was intended to promote Christianity or discriminate against non-believers.

However, after receiving complaints from Nashville group Secular Life and other organizations, the fair decided to also offer the discount to any fairgoer who presented a bulletin from any type of religious service or printout of any non-religious or secular group’s Web page, according to the Tennessean.

Wilson County Promotions board member Cheryl Lewis told the paper “God & Country Days” was conceived in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and has been a fair fixture since 2002.

Secular Life founder Thaddeus Schwartz said his group and others decided not to file a complaint against the fair, but write letters to officials first.

“We hoped that a couple of letters, showing them our point of view, would do the trick,” he told the Tennessean. “And it worked.”