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‘Tis the season to be litigious. In Pittsburgh, Staten Island, Brookville, Ind., and Jackson, Miss., Nativity scenes have been challenged, sometimes removed, then (in Pittsburgh) eventually replaced.
The manger scene has become such a potent symbol in the “war over Christmas” that its revolutionary meaning is being lost — even by some who “embrace the Christian label,” as news articles said of President Obama this week.
During the first 13 centuries after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, no one thought of setting up a creche to celebrate Christmas. The pre-eminent Christian holiday was Easter, not Christmas.
Of course, the United States as only considered Christmas a Federal holiday since 1870, and actually had laws against it before that.
The point is – don’t fret if people are attaching nativity scenes. After all, they are only doing what Protestant forefathers in the U.S. did before….
Related articles
- Brookville, Indiana: Leave Our Nativity Scene Alone (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com)
- Nativity scene a century late (philly.com)
- Why a donkey in the parking lot? (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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[...] would be right, except that the white Christmas is a symbol of tradition, of family, of faith. And yes, there are some interesting historical issues surrounding the Christmas celebration. While we [...]