Santa Claus Nailed to Cross

Xmas protest angers neighbors
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 24, 2007 8:52 AM CST
Santa Claus Nailed to Cross
This Santa Claus nailed to a cross is part of one man's protest against the commercialism of Christmas. His neighbors in Bremerton, Washington call it offensive.    (Kitasp Sun )

A Washington state man's personal protest against the commercialism of Christmas is upsetting his new neighbors, and it's not too hard to understand why. A headless Santa Claus sings Christmas carols on Art Conrad's front porch, and another life-size Santa hangs crucified on a 15-foot cross in his yard.

"Santa has been co-opted by our corporations as a symbol of consumerism. Every year Christmas comes earlier and earlier," said Conrad, 52. His neighbors in Bremerton, a 60-minute ferry ride from Seattle, don't seem to get it. "It's horrible and gruesome," said one woman. "It's perhaps a little controversial," Conrad told the Seattle Times. "My intent is no religious connotation." (More Seattle stories.)

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