"Two thousand years later ... the memory of the revolutionary zealot who walked across Galilee gathering an army of disciples with the goal of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth, the magnetic preacher who defied the authority of the Temple priesthood in Jerusalem, the radical Jewish nationalist who challenged the Roman occupation and lost, has been almost completely lost to history." ― Reza Aslan, religious scholar
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The Christmas narrative of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.
The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable, where Mary gave birth to a baby boy. That boy, Jesus, would grow up to undermine the political and religious establishment of his day and was eventually crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be.
But what if Jesus, the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet, had been born 2,000 years later? How would Jesus' life have been different had he be born and raised in the American police state?
Consider the following if you will.
Had Jesus been born in the year 2015...
Rather than traveling to Bethlehem for a census, Jesus' parents would have been mailed a 28-page American Community Survey, a
mandatory government questionnaire documenting their habits, household inhabitants, work schedule, and even how many toilets were in their home, etc. The
penalty for not responding to this invasive survey would have resulted in a fine of $5,000.
Instead of being born in a manger, Jesus might have been born at home. Rather than wise men and shepherds bringing gifts, however, the baby's parents might have been forced to ward off visits from state
social workers intent on prosecuting them for the home birth.
One couple in Washington had all three of their children removed after social services objected to the two youngest being birthed in an unassisted home delivery.
Had Jesus been born in a hospital, his blood and DNA would have been taken and entered into a government biobank without his parents' knowledge or consent. While most states require newborn screening, a growing number are indefinitely
holding onto that genetic material long-term for research, analysis and purposes yet to be disclosed.
Then again, had his parents been undocumented immigrants, they and the newborn baby might have been shuffled to a profit-driven, private detention center for illegals. There's quite a lot of money to be made from imprisoning immigrants, especially when taxpayers are footing the bill.
Comment: Wait, didn't Justin Trudeau announce the withdrawal of its jets from Iraq? That was fast: New PM tells Obama Canada pledges to withdraw fighter jets from Syria, Iraq