It's Christmas time. Let's have a manger, shepherds, wise men and a star -- but no Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

Christ is missing from Christmas in this small town. The community's holiday display has a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but no baby Jesus, Mary or Joseph.

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."

In recent years, some communities around the country have dropped nativity scenes after the displays were challenged as unconstitutional. Some communities have tried to head off legal problems by incorporating nonreligious symbols, or symbols of more than one faith, to avoid the appearance of endorsing one religion over another.

David Cunningham, parks superintendent in this town of 11,000, initially insisted St. Albans' display was not even technically a manger scene because he was concerned about possible lawsuits. But the mayor said such anxieties were unwarranted.

"We have a manger scene," the mayor said.

No, you have a parody of the Christmas story -- take it down, and keep the city offices open on Christmas Day. Oh yeah, and prepare to lose the next election, for we Christians will not be mocked by this patronizing insult to our faith.

UPDATE: Jesus is back -- but he will be "Abandoned Baby Jesus", with no Mary and Joseph.

Posted by: Greg at 12:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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