by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Saint Susanna's Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, is out trying to destroy the true meaning of Christmas if Fox News is to be believed. For the second year in a row the parishioners at Saint Susanna's have stirred controversy with their nativity scene. Last year they used their annual Christmas yard art to protest gun violence - and this year they are employing it to make a statement about immigration, a statement that some rabid right-wingers like Fox News find to be sacrilegious and unpatriotic.
This year the good folks at Saint Susanna's erected a standard nativity with Joseph and Mary gathered around the manger containing the Christ child, and the three Wise Men standing to one side preparing to join them. But this year's nativity scene fell short of being "standard" in a couple of respects. First, Baby Jesus was snugly nestled inside of a small cage, an the Wise Men were cordoned off by a fence. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were representative of immigrants in an unwelcoming land, and a general interpretation of the Wise Men behind the fence was that they represented the caravan struggling to arrive in a land of "freedom."
The entirety of the scene was brought together with a sign that read "Peace on Earth?"
Fox News, of course, was having none of it. One of their main gas valves, Sean Hannity, roared that "Christmas is under siege!" That is an old trope with Fox News which is normally rolled out when someone questions the skin tone of Jesus or Santa Claus, but was wheeled out this year as a defense of our nation's hateful immigration policies.
But others see the caged Baby Jesus as art, in fact, damned good art - art so good that it is being copied and proliferated across the country. Since Saint Susanna's went up with their controversial Nativity scene, similar depictions have arisen in places as far-flung and diverse as Indianapolis and Sacramento. And the display in Sacramento is likely to be standing long after Christmas because church officials there vow not to remove it as long as any immigrant children are being kept from their parents.
This idea of people using religious symbolism to combat social injustice has become a righteous fire - one that is spreading too fast for the bucket brigade from Fox News to ever hope to contain it.
If your God tells you that it is acceptable to tear families apart and lock innocent children in cages, it might just be time to listen more carefully and adjust your beliefs - or find a God who is not mired in hate.
Citizen Journalist
Saint Susanna's Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, is out trying to destroy the true meaning of Christmas if Fox News is to be believed. For the second year in a row the parishioners at Saint Susanna's have stirred controversy with their nativity scene. Last year they used their annual Christmas yard art to protest gun violence - and this year they are employing it to make a statement about immigration, a statement that some rabid right-wingers like Fox News find to be sacrilegious and unpatriotic.
This year the good folks at Saint Susanna's erected a standard nativity with Joseph and Mary gathered around the manger containing the Christ child, and the three Wise Men standing to one side preparing to join them. But this year's nativity scene fell short of being "standard" in a couple of respects. First, Baby Jesus was snugly nestled inside of a small cage, an the Wise Men were cordoned off by a fence. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were representative of immigrants in an unwelcoming land, and a general interpretation of the Wise Men behind the fence was that they represented the caravan struggling to arrive in a land of "freedom."
The entirety of the scene was brought together with a sign that read "Peace on Earth?"
Fox News, of course, was having none of it. One of their main gas valves, Sean Hannity, roared that "Christmas is under siege!" That is an old trope with Fox News which is normally rolled out when someone questions the skin tone of Jesus or Santa Claus, but was wheeled out this year as a defense of our nation's hateful immigration policies.
But others see the caged Baby Jesus as art, in fact, damned good art - art so good that it is being copied and proliferated across the country. Since Saint Susanna's went up with their controversial Nativity scene, similar depictions have arisen in places as far-flung and diverse as Indianapolis and Sacramento. And the display in Sacramento is likely to be standing long after Christmas because church officials there vow not to remove it as long as any immigrant children are being kept from their parents.
This idea of people using religious symbolism to combat social injustice has become a righteous fire - one that is spreading too fast for the bucket brigade from Fox News to ever hope to contain it.
If your God tells you that it is acceptable to tear families apart and lock innocent children in cages, it might just be time to listen more carefully and adjust your beliefs - or find a God who is not mired in hate.
1 comment:
May I copy your "Christ in a Cage" and send it to our local newspapers, giving you credit, of course?
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