West Virginia City Adds Jesus To City's Nativity Display

Last week, according to the AP, St. Albans, West Virginia put up the community's annual Festival of Lights holiday display. One of 350 light exhibits was a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but without baby Jesus, Mary or Joseph. The parks superintendent says the omission was out of concern over church-state issues, but Mayor Dick Callaway said it was for technical reasons-- it is difficult to create a baby out of lights in a small manger scene. At any rate, after the display received national publicity, the mayor and city council received critical e-mails and media inquiries from around the country. So, says yesterday's Charleston Gazette, Mayor Callaway informed city council on Monday that he had instructed the city’s parks officials to install a figure of the Christ child in the nativity scene. However he expressed puzzlement since the nativity scene without Jesus had been up for the last six years without a complaint.