And now, a word about vandalism: any fool can spraypaint obscenities on a building, hit a mailbox with a baseball bat, or draw a startlingly realistic blackened tooth on a billboard model's smile, but it takes a little work and a little imagination to do something really memorable.
Case in point: this story about a nativity scene in Draper, Utah, where some brilliant scoundrel stole the infant Jesus, blindfolded Mary and Joseph, and left a picture of King Herod, along with a threatening note saying that Herod now had the child.
The pastor said he was saddened, but would find it in his heart to forgive, as befits his Christian faith. I hope he can appreciate the humor as well, unlike the local police, who are investigating it as a hate crime.
Hate crime? As Jesus Himself would say, what the fuck?
Isn't the whole idea of hate crimes based on the idea of legal protection for persecuted minorities who possess no real power of their own? Does this really apply to Christians in America? In the Midwest no less? I have no idea, since I haven't really been paying attention to anything but myself and my own peculiar needs for years now, but my psychic powers tell me no.
And my dashboard saviour bobs his head in agreeance.
Sounds to me like the vandals hate pastor Berg, not Jesus. Maybe he's black. Maybe it's a hate crime because it's against a black pastor. After all, there must be TONS of black pastors in Utah.
Posted by: | December 07, 2005 at 06:15 PM