WHERE PUBLIC NATIVITY SCENES AREN'T BANNED...

    The once-great city of Santa Monica, California made headlines last year after a US Federal Court upheld the city's ban on Nativity Scenes. Nativity Scenes are becoming increasingly rare sights here in the Prozac Nation. Lawsuits and harassment from radical anti-Christians have made such displays a source of controversy even in communities that want them.

     Every December, the American Corporate Media has headlines of even the smallest towns being forced to bend to Political Correctness. This year, the so-called Freedom From Religion Foundation, with much encouragement from the Seattle-area media, went after and successfully removed an annual Nativity Scene in the small village of Gig Harbor, Washington. The town of 7,000 was hardly a match for the George Soros-funded FFRF and metro media pressure.

      But in the small village of Lintou, in Shanxi Province, China, a Nativity Scene is being welcomed as a symbol of hope for the struggling village. Shanxi was first visited by Christian missionaries in the early 1700s and Lintou was a village populated almost entirely by Catholics. Around 1910, Lintou erected the beautiful Immaculate Conception Church---which is still the center of worship in the village.

       However, like many villages in China, Lintou has suffered from a demographic shift. For economic reasons, young people have moved into the cities, living Lintou mostly a city of the elderly. But with the arrival of a new priest: 29 year-old Father Bosco Han Bo, hope is beginning to dawn in Lintou again. Father Han hopes to make this Christmas the center of a project to revitalize Lintou---with a Nativity Scene at the center of his plan.

       The Nativity Scene has attracted nationwide attention in China because of its artistic merit and the community effort involved in it. China's official Party news outlet, The Global Times, visited Lintou and praised the Nativity Scene in an article titled The True Meaning of Christmas.

       "Villagers used to put up the Nativity Scene inside the church, but Father Han decided to install it in the open air, right in the center of town. His first thought was to construct the Holy Family out of straw, but the villagers insisted that it look real. The young priest listened to his flock. He drove to town and bought some mannequins and made a Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph out of them. The villagers were impressed."

      The article goes on mention that a large celebration is planned in Lintou for Christmas, and the villagers who have emigrated are returning with their children for festivities including carols, prayers, food and a bonfire. "For certain, the children will know the story of the Nativity by heart while most of their peers in the cities know only Santa Claus." the Global Times said.

      So, when we compare Christmas in Lintou to Christmas in Gig Harbor, Americans should be hanging their heads in humiliated shame that the Communist Party of China is not only not removing Nativity Scenes but praising them in their official news organs---while Nativity Scenes in America are subject to witch-hunts not seen in China since the Maoist Era.

      What a testimony, too, to the cultural rot that's infested the US that the Seattle media applauds the events in Gig Harbor, while the state-run Chinese media actually understands what Christmas is all about.

      But leaving the bleak and gloomy nature of America's War on Christmas, Chinese Christians have reason to look forward to the future. A report submitted to the CPC Politburo earlier outlined and recommended a new policy of expanding religious freedoms in China---which has the endorsement of President Xi Jinping. Pope Francis has also been working to restore Vatican relations with the Chinese government all throughout 2016.

      At least it looks like Christmas in Lintou this year will be one worth remembering.

Good Men Doing Good Things