Pirate's Cove

I really don’t think we have to guess the Party affiliation, do we?

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — It has been a part of Maryville’s holiday traditions for nearly a quarter of a century, but Monday night the Bible was removed from their Christmas celebration.

One complaint changed the local ceremony, with the long-time argument of separating Church and State.

And, it hit home when the City of Maryville received a call, complaining about their annual Yuletide Celebration, which used to include reading from the Bible.

Walker Johnson has been the Master of Ceremonies of the Maryville Yuletide Celebration for more than 20 years, but things changed this year.

He says, “It’s my first time in 22 years not to read the Christmas story.” Describing the previous years, he says, “Everybody is partying and having a good time, and when you start to read it, they get quiet, and any time you’ve got 6,7,800 people get quiet, you know you’re doing something right.”

Annually before the large tree in downtown Maryville was lit up, Walker shared the Bible story with the crowd.

But, Mayor Tom Taylor says, “Last Thursday we received a call from a lady asking if we were going to read the Nativity story from the Gospel of Luke,” adding, “and she just simply asked if that were legal.”

Unsurprisingly, a lot of people decided to forgoe attending the celebration. Amazing that one person can screw it up for everyone else.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU