A mild affront draws an appropriately mild rebuke from Australian Catholics and Anglicans. As usual, more interesting than the offensive work are some of the reasons given for taking offense. Quoth Sydney’s Anglican bishop:

“The gifts that the wise men were giving were appropriate for a king, so the notion that Jesus would reject them is absurd,” Dr Davies said.

Is that really the lesson of the Magi? That if they’d have stiffed Jesus with silver or bronze instead of gold, he might very well have tossed it over the side of the crib? Man, my Catholic school upbringing was more full of holes than I realized.