Posted on 12/05/2006 10:03:20 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
T. ALBANS (AP) - It looks like Jesus has made it for Christmas after all.
Days after a flurry of news reports on the Nativity scene here that lacked a representation of Jesus, town officials have put the infant in the manger.
St. Albans Mayor Dick Callaway said he got e-mails from as far away as South Korea about the display, which is one of 350 light exhibits as part of the town's annual Festival of Lights. The manger scene at the festival had included shepherds, camels and a guiding star, but no Jesus, Mary or Joseph. Now, though, Jesus - whose birth is celebrated on Dec. 25 by Christians all over the world - is back in the picture.
''The baby is in the manger,'' Callaway said Monday.
A city parks official had said Jesus was left out of the scene to avoid a potential conflict over the separation of church and state, since the Festival of Lights is at a public park. But Callaway said it was more of a technical issue and an oversight.
''The purpose isn't to support a particular religion,'' he said. ''It's just to show one more side to the season.''
Other parks with similar holiday light displays in West Virginia, such as Wheeling's Oglebay Park, have Nativity scenes complete with Baby Jesus and haven't reported any complaints. Conservative legal group The Alliance Defense Fund said last week such public displays are usually on solid legal footing as long as the religious displays are mixed in with nonreligious exhibits.
Thanks to everyone who let Mayor Dick Callaway know their thoughts.
Whoa, putting Christ back into Christmas, what will they think of next.
A Nativity without Jesus is like...
...Coffee with no caffeine?
...a low-rider made from a Jeep?
...Democrats swearing to uphold the Constitution?
...?
Thank God for Senator Robert Byrd.
The irreligious left will surely sue to prevent this. Why are they so intolerant of others' religions?
It looks like Jesus has made it for Christmas after all.
...how sweet! Leaving Jesus out of Christmas is like leaving MLK out of the civil rights movement. Like leaving LBJ out of the "Great Society". Like leaving Ted Kennedy out of Chapaquidick.
ACLU suit coming in 5...4...3...2...
We West Virginians may be considered "hill-billy" folk by the more sophisticated classes, but at least in WV, Jesus made it back into the manger.
What the heck is with that?
I've heard of some dumb stuff but a "nativity scene" without Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus just about tops them all! So what are the "wise men" supposed to be doing? Just standing around looking stupid? What does "nativity" even mean absent a baby?
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