Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Kitsap Sun:

Santa’s keeping watch over a West Bremerton neighborhood in a way that has some offended and everyone else at least a bit curious about the motive.

In the front yard of a house on the 300 block of Olympic Avenue stands a crucifix about 15-feet tall, bearing Santa Claus in place of Jesus.

Jake Tally of Bremerton walked by the display Friday and chuckled, but didn’t pretend to understand the message.

“I don’t really know what to think. I know it’s about God but Santa has nothing to do with it,” he said.

Nearby neighbors were mixed with their reviews Friday. One woman said she was offended. Another said she feared how children might respond. One man said he thought perhaps the homeowner was displaying a message about the commercialization of Christmas.

Art Conrad, who owns the home and put up the display, said the commercialization angle is the number one impetus for the display, but he’s also making a statement about political correctness. That he finds Santa on a cross a hilarious juxtaposition fits in the list of motives, too.

He got the idea a few years ago when he read a story about Japanese merchants mistakenly mixing up symbols in preparing for Christmas, putting Santa on the cross.

A visit to the Snopes urban legend Web site casts doubt on the origins of the Japan story. “As parody it’s believable; as an honest mistake we find it unlikely,” wrote the Snopes author. The article does mention that an artist once displayed a similar image in New York City as a statement about Christmas commercialism.

True or not, Conrad thought the story was funny and decided that one day he’d have to put up a similar display. He created it by stuffing a Santa suit and borrowing the head off a motion-activated Santa that dances and sings Christmas carols.

The headless dancing Santa now carries a knife and sings and dances on Conrad’s front porch.

Conrad photographed the crucified Santa and created his own Christmas cards, one with the message, “Santa died for your MasterCard.”

“Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be,” Conrad said. “Now he’s the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff.”

Conrad said the second message comes from his belief that people are so afraid of being politically incorrect that they won’t do anything because of what other people might think or what the American Civil Liberties Union might do.

Conrad said he’s had several people a day stop and take photos. If anyone’s offended, no one has let on, he said. He declined to discuss his own thoughts on God, but said he showed a picture of the crucified Santa to a Christian coworker. She told him she wasn’t offended because she knows Christ is no longer on the cross.