In searching for more postal stamps for Christmas, I am amazed at the variety of design and also the countries producing religious themes, such as Sri Lanka and Micronesia.
The choice of secular or religious designs is frequently a bone of contention in some countries; church leaders often see secular designs as diluting the meaning of the holiday, while postal officials fear that overly religious designs could lead their secular or minority-religious customers to avoid the stamps, leaving millions unsold, and even expose the postal administration to charges that they are violating laws prohibiting the promotion of a particular religion.
To avoid difficulties attendant upon contracting for original designs with a religious theme, the latter have typically been adapted from Old Master paintings hanging in
Given the state of our materialistic society, we should be glad to have a religious themed Christmas stamp in our own country. It should give us hope that all is not lost in today’s increasingly mixed-up world.
