Alright, here's another entry for the PC Idiocy files. According to Tom Breen, an AP writer, in the Chicago Tribune, it appears that the community's "holiday display" in St. Alban's, West Virginia, is missing a few main characters. In a scene which has a manger, shepherds, a guiding star, camels, and a palm tree, the town has left out Mary, Joseph, and oh, yeah, the baby Jesus.
The parks superintendent said Jesus was left out because of concerns about the separation of church and state. But Mayor Dick Callaway said it was done for purely technical reasons: "It's not easy to put a light-up representation of a baby in a small manger scene, you know."
Huh? Sounds like a cop-out to me. And the mayor's answer doesn't explain why Mary and Joseph didn't make it into the scene. I tend to believe the parks superintendent's answer. Why even put up the display if you're not going to have Mary, Joseph, and Jesus?
According to an article in The Charleston Daily Mail, the park superintendent stated:
"You could call it a manger," he said. "We call it a place for the animals. It looks like two things coming up on the sides with a roof-like structure. What it looks like depends on your imagination. We have never had a baby Jesus or a Mary, a Joseph or wise men."
Visiting the display, Melinda Ashby got it right.
Ashby, 35, called the scene one of the dumbest she's ever seen in her life.
"I asked ‘where is the baby Jesus?' I was told that it is a desert scene and to use my imagination," she said. "I would be less offended if the manger scene had not been there at all. Jesus is the reason for the season."
Well said.
Oh, and to give credit where credit is due, the photo was taken by Craig Cunningham.
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