Young Christians in Scotland Stage Clever Living Nativity in Mall That Banned Manger Scene

Dorothy Cummings McLean : Dec 12, 2018
Lifesitenews.com

"The holiday needs more humor and more joy." -John Mallon

(Scotland)— [Lifesitenews.com] When a shopping mall refused to host a nativity scene last week, two friends decided to make themselves into one. (Screengrab image: via Sancta Familia Media)

John Mallon, 27, of Glasgow and Elena Feick, 30, of Paisley dressed up as Joseph and Mary with the Child Jesus after news reports appeared that the Thistles Center shopping mall in Stirling, a city 40 minutes north of Edinburgh, would not permit a traditional manger scene to become part of its Christmas display.

According to the Scottish Daily Record, the Catholic Legion of Mary had asked the Thistles Center if they could put up the nativity scene. In response, the mall's management gave the group the brush-off, saying it would not be "right" to host such a display.

"Thistles prides itself on being religiously and politically neutral in its behavior," said a spokesman. "With this in mind, we do not feel it would be right to host this type of promotion in a shopping center."

The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh pronounced this decision "a little Grinch-like," and a spokesman for the Church of Scotland said, "When a shopping center can focus purely on commercialism to the exclusion of the reason for the celebration of Christmas, it is a sad day for all of us."

Mallon and Feick, however, took some action. They dressed up as St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary to share the true meaning of Christmas at Thistle Centre. An unusually talkative St. Joseph (there are no quotes from Joseph in the Bible) introduced himself and the Holy Family to shoppers and explained that they were there because the mall would not permit the traditional "crib"... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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