Cultural clash greets Christmas

By BILL FERGUSON
MACON TELEGRAPH
Thanksgiving is still four days away, but in many ways the Christmas season (which seems to arrive earlier every year) is already upon us.
All the stores have their decorations up and their pre-pre-Christmas sales are under way. Christmas-themed movies will start opening in a theater near you this weekend. And now it seems as if the season's first secular/religious culture clash has already broken out as well.
A Christmas-themed controversy erupted tlast week in the unlikeliest of places -- with the Toys for Tots program. Toys for Tots is a charitable organization run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve that collects toys from October to December each year to provide Christmas gifts for underprivileged kids.
Seems like the most unlikely thing in the world to generate controversy, right? But trouble came to the program this year when a Los Angeles-based company called one2believe tried to donate 4,000 brand new talking action figures to Toys for Tots, and were turned down.
Why would such a gift be turned down, you might wonder. Could it be that the dolls were too scary, or too "adult"? Did the little figures say things that were too off-color to be heard by tender young ears? Were they unsafe, with sharp edges or pointy surfaces that might injure a little nipper?
No, no, and no. The generous donation was refused because the dolls were a likeness of Jesus Christ that quoted Bible verses at the touch of a button.
Let that sink in for a minute. It was deemed inappropriate for Toys for Tots to give out Jesus action figures as gifts during a holiday that celebrates his birth.
Government entity
The whole thing may seem a little ridiculous at first blush, but Toys for Tots had good reason to turn down the donation. The Marine Corps is a government entity, and is therefore not allowed to advance the cause of any particular religion. Plus the toys they give out go to children from various religious backgrounds, so there is every possibility that a talking Jesus doll could have ended up being unwrapped by a Jewish kid, or a Muslim kid and, well, it might be a little awkward to say the least.
Still, it's a shame that these dolls can't get into the hands of some Christian tykes who would enjoy and appreciate them. They really are high-quality toys -- 12 inches tall, fully articulating hands with fingers that can grasp things (a feature we called "kung fu grip" when I was a kid), and hand-sewn clothing and sandals.
For those of you who are looking for a complete Bible-inspired action figure set, the company that produces the Jesus doll also sells dolls in the likeness of Mary (featuring a "multi-directional waist" and "rooted hair"), Moses (comes with a cool walking staff), and David (complete with -- you guessed it -- a slingshot).
I know that there are children out there who would enjoy recreating their favorite Bible stories with these nifty action figures and my hope is that some private religious organization will come along and coordinate their distribution to needy children whose families wouldn't be offended by the gift.
McClatchy-Tribune