(UPDATE: Please see update at end of story.)
By Michael V. Hannigan
The News Staff
It appears that San Antonio atheist Patrick Greene may be leaving the Henderson County nativity scene controversy as quickly as he entered.
Greene revealed this weekend that he believes he has a detached retina, which he expects will leave him blind in the very near future.
In early February, Greene emailed several county officials promising to sue Henderson County if the traditional nativity scene is displayed on the courthouse lawn this Christmas. But because of his health, he has decided to back away from his threat to sue.
“There is no way for me to go up there if I’m blind,” he said.
He had intended to represent himself in the lawsuit, something he has done multiple times.
Greene said he has no insurance to pay for an operation that might save his sight, and can’t even pay for the exam that will confirm the diagnosis.
“Why waste the money if I can’t do anything about it,” he said.
Greene said several opthamologists and eye clinics all came to the same diagnosis when hearing his symptoms, some of them severe.
Greene was the latest to enter the debate over the nativity scene, which has been displayed on the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn for several years.
In December, A Wisconsin-based atheist group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), demanded the county remove the nativity. The group later shifted its focus to getting an atheist banner displayed alongside the nativity, an effort that is expected to continue in April.
The county declined to remove the nativity, with County Attorney Clint Davis writing, “Henderson County believes that it is in complete compliance with the requirements of the Constitution and acting very much in accord with prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings.”
Greene disagrees, which is not surprising, since this is not the first time he has taken such a stance on a church-state issue. He has a history of activism going back to at least 1998, when he challenged – and changed – the way the city of Ontario, Calif. stored and cared for a series of nativity scenes. He has also twice filed lawsuits against the San Antonio mayor’s office for prayer-related reasons, and has pursued legal action against other entities.
And even though he has taken the lawsuit off the table, Greene took one last shot before concentrating on his health. He filed a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct against County Judge Richard Sanders.
“It is what I call a miniature lawsuit,” he said.
Greene said he hopes that when the commission investigates his complaint, it will see what is going on in the county “and put two and two together.”
UPDATE RE: Comments about helping Mr. Greene.
I spoke with Patrick Greene after this story was published and he sounded pretty overwhelmed and touched that so many people in Henderson County would talk about trying to help him in the comments (and yes, he knows they are pastors and Christians).
I am not sure exactly how to handle this situation, so I’m just going to put this out there …… at first he really wanted to say thanks, but no thanks, because he feels pretty much resigned to the fact that he is going to be blind …. the operation promises to be very expensive and there’s no way to pay for it, and little chance to collect that much money.
The second thing is this: he is very independent and asking for money goes against everything he believes in. But I told him he didn’t ask Henderson County for help, so that wasn’t really an issue.
Finally – Mr. Greene is a veteran, serving 8 years in the Air Force. He is trying to get into a VA program, but isn’t sure if that will happen. If it does happen, he will probably have to do a little traveling to get the medical care he needs, something he didn’t think he’d be able to do …… but that is something those who have talked about collecting money could really help with.
So, he is supposed to hear back from the VA soon — when he knows how that turns out, he’s going to let me know and I will tell you.
On another note … you just really don’t know which way a story is going to turn, do you?