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Somebody kidnapped the baby Jesus from Brookline Village
By adamg on Sun, 01/01/2012 - 9:29pm
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Comments
Hmm...
So the congregation that turns baby dolls into bloody, offal-dripping aborted fetuses for its abortion protest signs suddenly finds itself short a baby doll? They might want to check outside of Planned Parenthood or the doctor's office on Harvard and see if they left it behind with a piles of "THEY'RE KILLING BABIES HERE" signs.
...or perhaps it is another
...or perhaps it is another godless heathen trying to make a bad joke, like you?
The taking of the baby jesus happens in Brookline every couple of years, I think 2-3 years ago someone took it and smashed it. It is probably some high school kids being douches...or maybe the creepy homeless people who hang around Dunkin Donuts and ask for change.
Hey, at least no ne has blamed the jews (yet)
Nothing funny about harassment
Which is what this particular congregation (save "parishoners" for the church bulletin) does to women on a weekly basis. I don't think the theft of the plastic figurine is funny, but I don't think it's a tragic coincidence, either. When you put that much hate out into the world, you should be surprised when it provokes a response.
Maybe local kids did steal it. But there's plenty of motivation for "godless heathens" -- or just far more sympathetic believers -- to take out their frustrations with this particular institution through its graven images.
Your Ignorance Shows
As a very lapsed Catholic I can offer the following;
1. It is still a property crime and at its logical extent, a hate crime. I'm no fan of the RCAB but this is still hate, despite Kevin Bacon's efforts in Diner. If someone stole a menorah from in front of a jewish temple there would be community meetings and everyone reupping their No Place For Hate pledges.
2. Your use of the term congregation shows further ignorance. This is a parish church that is subservient to a larger (arch)diocese. Congregations function as quasi-independent organizations within larger religious bodies. Congregations elect their own minister and lay people, while parishes, such as Catolic ones, have theirs appointed.
Hmm...
I, as a non-Christian, agree that stealing anything is theft, and that stealing something that is widely known to have cultural significance is a hate crime.
However, "congregation" is a generic term referring to, well, people who congregate. It's often used to refer inclusively to every church/temple/mosque/synagogue/coven/meeting, like when someone suggests that people with extra stuff can ask at their congregations to find out where it might be donated.
(It sounds from what you wrote as if it might have different meaning to Catholics, but in the English vernacular it still means any gathering.)
Quick, someone call Sergeant Joe Friday!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/15145/dragnet-the-christ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq5jaftSD1s
Ha Ha - Someone stole a Torah Scroll!!!
Got any You Tube links for that?
The whole megillah
Being fenced in Arlington.
Arlington
Is that the one that the town tried to foist off on to the UU church when it could no longer sit on town property? We said "no", and people got upset because a church in the center of town should want to prominently display it, you see.
When my son was about two, he was very upset that the baby didn't have clothes on and was going to be cold. I let him put an old receiving blanket on the baby, and nobody touched it until they took the display down.
Jesus isn't a megillah!
Stolen torahs on YouTube
Music video about a stolen torah:
Nobody is laughing about Torahs being stolen Adam
People were making fun of that fact that religious items were stolen from a Catholic Church and making light of it.
There appears to be a double standard when it comes to the reaction of property crime against a Catholic Church versus those crimes that happen against other religions.
The Catholic Church and especially Club Bernie here in Boston are some fairly wretched beasts, yet, it seems in Boston when something happens to church property, it is dismissed in many places with the "She was asking for it by wearing those slutty clothes" defense.
Sorry to disappoint you
but I'm laughing.
Not equivalent
No you're equating tacky outdoor figurines with items of religious significance is the double standard.
When the Torahs are stolen from a synagogue that would be like if some one broke into the church and stole the sacramental vessels.
When a figurine is stolen or the scene changed in the outdoor manger it is more akin to when the heads of the Hilltop Steakhouse cows were sawn off and stolen (another infamous prank by local teenagers).
Or the theft of all the lawn ornaments in a North Shore neighborhood [where said items might abound] where such ornaments may include flamingos but also is likely to include many Mary figurines.
Sure its theft still, but its not done with anything other than prank like mentality (whether funny or not a joke is a joke).
It might not be equivalent,
But the church is about symbolism, and baby Jesus would not be considered a tacky figurine.
Agreed, basically
Stealing any sort of religious symbols from a religious building is a hate crime (in terms of effect and intention, not necessarily from a legal stance), yes, but you're right that the comparison wasn't quite equal.
Stealing a torah scroll would be more like the sacramental vessels, or, hmm, like the parish records or something. They're hand-written, often hundreds of years old, and are rendered invalid if one letter is damaged.
Stealing a Jesus figurine is more like stealing a hamsa or magen David decoration or something; likely low monetary value and mass-produced, not required in order to observe religious rituals, but still symbolic of the religion and its theft makes people feel violated more than if someone stole a flowerpot or something from the house of worship.
Excuse me?
I was not making fun of this event. Do you see where I said that I agree that stealing items of cultural significance is a hate crime? Then I posted a link to a Dragnet episode in which a statue of the baby Jesus is missing from a church. Why did you need to bring my religion into this and accuse me of making fun of something when I hadn't?
He brought in your religion,
He brought in your religion, inappropriately and rudely, because he did not bother to pay attention to what you posted. My apologies on behalf of all lapsed catholics on the planet. We're not all like that. Furthermore, often the awareness that causes us to be lapsed in the first place is the same awareness that leads us to conclude that, despite an ugly past history of being harrassed and discriminated against, catholics in the US in the twenty-first century are not oppressed-- sure, there are some prots in the south & southwest (& Alaska, come to think of it) who think the pope has magic demon mind control over the faithful, but that is a rather paltry crew nowadays. The catholic church has been able to exercise power and advantage even outside of the sphere of its own membership because of a reputation for being benevolent and aiding the needy, and for being able to deliver votes. The church did indeed do benevolent acts and aid the needy, and also got away with criminal abuse for years. If the church had not arrogantly felt itself above the law ("taking care of this in house") then it would not find itself the target of warranted suspicion and disapprobation today.