Pennsylvania man cites Newtown while ripping down atheist holiday display

A banner that was recently hung in a public space by a local atheist group in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania got chopped down this week by a young man who cited the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut as his reason.

Local news channel WNEP-TV filmed the man, who identified himself as Joe McDonald, climbing 30 feet up to where the banner was hung, cutting it down, and replacing it with an American flag.

"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," McDonald reportedly said. "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."

The banner was placed in a public space where other groups have erected holiday displays like a Nativity and a Menorah. The Freedom From Religion Foundation paid the city $50 to hang the banner for one week.

This video is from WNEP-TV 16 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, aired Thursday, December 20, 2012.