Sounds oxymoronic, but when it’s satirical, anything can happen.
The traditional Christmas story of how the baby Jesus came to be born in a manger after Mary and Joseph found that there was no room at the inn, is traditionally performed by Key Stage One pupils all around the country. However, staff at Mount Pleasant School were concerned about causing offence to non-Christians by placing too much emphasis on the religious overtones of the story.
‘With many families from other faiths or none, we do not wish to cause offence at the time our mid-winter festival,’ said headteacher Jackie Hunt. ‘The nativity is a charming traditional tale, but there is no need to present it as a piece of pro-Christian propaganda.’
Come to think of it, this play might actually be good. It actually teaches you something!
Early on in the play, five year old Molly Johnson announces ‘Lo, there is a great star in the sky, which is easily explained by rational and scientific means and certainly does not prove the existence of some sort of supernatural diety…’ Although the shepherds insist that they did see angels in the sky above Bethlehem, on further questioning admit that they had been eating magic mushrooms the night before.
How do they deal with the Virgin Birth?
The play climaxes with Mary coming clean to Joseph about the so-called ‘virgin birth.’ ‘Actually Joseph I was not visited by an Angel nine months ago,’ confesses six year old Sally Harris. ‘I am not carrying the son of God. It is the son of your brother Kevin. To be honest I can’t believe you fell for it.’
If anyone stages this next year, I am *so* there.
[tags]atheist, atheism, Christmas, Christian[/tags]