Our Correspondent in Israel

The BBC showed "Bethlehem by Night" on Christmas Eve and I was appalled at all of the neon! I e'd our correspondent in Israel, 'Don't they have any kind of historical preservation group there? Not that I'm particularly religious (I'm not) but the juxtaposition of the two was not pretty."

Shortly thereafter, she replied, "Unfortunately, Bethlehem is part of the Palestinian territory and therefore mainted by them. You were lucky to see it by night and to not see all the crap that is there -- little Jesuses, crosses, endless. Also, the names of the places beggar belief. "Manger Square" is a good example. By comparison, Jerusalem which is a part of Israel, is wonderful, totally in keeping with what Jerusalem is. Nazareth, which is an Arabic town, but within Israel, has also been brought into modern times. Of course, if you watch the main stream media you will probably hear that "due to the embargo, Israel only allows neon and plastic to be allowed in."

She added, "However, to the people who have the vision of "the little town of Bethlehem," the trashy modern version will not make a difference. They walked where Jesus was born; they will probably buy a plastic Jesus and go away - cleansed. I was shocked in Rome to see some of the religious crap they had. A picture of Mary if you looked at it from the right; an image of Jesus if you looked to the left. I guess money is the biggest God of all."

And I think she's right!