Mr. Francisco?

I should start by pointing out the my readers that this is in fact satire (it took me halfway through the article to figure that out). It comes far too close to the skewed political correct reality that is a fact of life, day in and day out, in California:

Mr. Bernardino and Rabbi Serra
by Rev. John Juedes

The San Bernardino City Council has approved a resolution to change the name of the city. It will now be called Mr. Bernardino.

Councilwoman Poly Ticly-corect stated, “It is important for separation of church and state that we do this. This name change retains the Hispanic heritage of our city while eliminating the religious problem of having our city named for ‘Saint Bernardino.’”

In a related action, the council will change the names of “Crosswalks” and “Rail Crossings” to “Passwalks” and “Passings.” A council news release stated, “We cannot show any preference for religion, so we must remove the word ‘cross’ because of its obvious connection to Christianity.”

The council noted that state Attorney General Gerry Brown has already ordered Caltrans to change signs across the state. Not following suit would open the city to legal action by the ACLU. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed a similar bill in the House of Representatives.

The city of Santa Barbara has already changed its name to “Barbara.” The California Supreme Court is expected to pass a ruling in June which would have required this change.

The Santa Barbara Mission has changed its name to Santa Barbara Community Center so it does not offend residents who are atheists or adherents of religions other than Christianity.

Father Serra founded many of the California Missions. Textbooks in California public schools will be required to call him “Rabbi Serra” instead of “Father Serra.”

Informed that Serra was actually a Roman Catholic priest, not a Jew, a spokesman said, “We cannot let the facts of the past interfere with our future diversity. The Catholic Church will be allowed to continue to call him Father Serra if it is willing to give up its tax exempt property status. Our textbooks already avoid using the titles ‘Rev.’ or ‘Pastor’ for Martin Luther King, so we are following established practice.”

See article here.