So, Christmas is less than a week away...

Yesterday as I was driving through town, I passed this manger thing they have set up off on the side of a busy intersection (in front of a school). It was the usual plastic (I think) statues of the Baybee Jesus (yes, there’s a musical cadence for that phrase hence the intentional misspelling), various livestock, a wise man or two and the happy couple (I’ll probably burn in hell for describing the thing in such a heretic fashion, one more sin to atone for on the big pile) all happy to be in the stall.

So, as I drove by it the thought occurred to me, how would this affect me if I were Jewish? Muslim? Buddhist? Hindu?

It was on city property... it wasn’t something a church had up.

I’m a little numb to the whole thing — I mean they put up damn Christmas lights right after Halloween now — I find it somewhat innocuous but, there is supposed to be a separation of church and state in this country and there isn’t supposed to be any kind of “state religion.”

So, the thought was how would I feel if I weren’t a member of the group celebrating this festival. Would I feel like an outsider? Would I be alienated? Would I find it offensive to have to confront this everywhere I turned?

I couldn’t answer the question.

It just made me think about all the other holidays other religions celebrate and wonder why they don’t get the same play. There’s a lot of lip service about equality and political correctness in our country but, then you see a manger on city property and you realize not everything is quite the way it’s made out to be.