Says Nontraditional Structure Endangers America
By Maria Padhila
It’s coming on time for the annual celebration of the rebirth of the Sun, when those who would destroy any relationships but those among an official man, an official woman, and their official offspring go hog wild celebrating the birth of an impoverished baby to a woman who conceived a child out of wedlock and a guy who decided to help her out and live with her and raise the child even though he knew the baby wasn’t his biological offspring. (What was with that guy? I don’t know. Maybe he was gay. Maybe he was really a woman? Maybe he was just a great guy who loved her and didn’t have a jealousy problem, didn’t have to be the center of attention all the time to feel OK.)
Everywhere there will be civil rights battles about whether depictions of this immoral scene should be allowed in public spaces around America. Some will counter with displays they find less offensive, such as the recently busted group in Leesburg, Virginia, of all the conservative bastions, which whipped up a display of a crucified skeleton in a Santa suit to protest holiday consumerism.
In all the praise of the Baby Jesus, this rather unusual family setup that Jesus had always seems to get sidestepped and shunted off, like the Uncle and his Boyfriend that certain families never talk about. It’s right there in everyone’s face, and yet there’s this persistent insistence that the family ‘norm’ must follow a form that’s comparatively recent and comparatively rare. Hell, even Moses didn’t have an upbringing anywhere close to ‘normal’ — he was given up at three months to be raised by the royal family like a cute little toy, while his mother had to disguise herself and pass as a lower-class servant and wet nurse.
It can even be argued that those from unconventional, ‘immoral’ origin have an advantage. Can you think of a major leader or spiritual figure who came from a nuclear family in Mayberry or its historical equivalent?
With such terrible role models, I can’t understand why so many insist that the model of the past hundred years, charitably speaking, is the one Jesus intends. What’s more mysterious is how many of us have bought into it without realizing it.