It didn’t surprise the locals when Claremont United Methodist Church unveiled its annual outdoor Nativity scene this week. In keeping with its spiritual leanings and activist traditions, this was no tender Christ-child-in-the-manger tableau.
Instead, Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus had been separated and locked up in individual chain-link pens, topped by barbed wire fencing.
What shocked people in this suburban L.A. County college town was what happened next: An image of the scene posted online by the Rev. Karen Clark Ristine ricocheted across the country. Propelled by social media, it was showcased by virtually every major media outlet and drew a mix of outrage and applause.
The Nativity scene was intended to reflect the plight of immigrants and asylum seekers whose families were separated on our southern border — a process many in the church consider a moral abomination.
“We don’t see it as political; we see it as theological,” Ristine told Times reporter James Queally. But tens of thousands of people around the U.S. didn’t see it that way.
The image has sparked a heated national debate about spiritual boundaries and moral commitments. Its caustic tenor online reflects the state of dialogue in this country today: warped by political divisions, riddled with gratuitous insults and sabotaged by self-righteousness.
The pastor’s initial Facebook post was shared more than 24,000 times and drew more than 14,000 comments. Responses ranged from the grateful to the profane….
The above comes from a Dec. 13 story in the L.A. Times.
Virtue signalling at its WORST….The Holy Family didn’t break immigration laws
LA Times photo is a poor presentation of the display, in my opinion.
I grew up Methodist and have never spoken a negative word about my “Methodist Experience”. I always thought that the Methodist Church was kind-of a stepping stone to being Catholic. I did both of my grandparent’s funerals in the Methodist Church they attended.
I get the point that they are trying to make here, but isn’t it a little late? And why isn’t there a similar scene depicting the Holy Family slaughtered by Drug Cartels in Mexico or being beaten by political extremists in Chicago or being forced to be Dhimmis in Minnesota or Iran?
That wouldn’t their narrative
The Holy Family in cages is a very appropriate statement of faith for the times in which we are living. What has been done to families and children, in our name by the way, at the southern border is despicable and unchristian. There were no immigration laws when Jesus, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt.
Were there immigration laws when Abraham and Sarah fled to Egypt and were stopped by the Egyptians at the border (which by the way forms the basis for interesting Midrashes). See Genesis 12.
Did they note that the cages are modeled after those constructed and used during the Obama administration?
Our immigration laws are federal law (not “Republican laws” or “Democrat laws”).
Very poor taste! At Christmas, we need beautiful Nativities to honor the birth of Our Lord, and uplift our hearts to worship Him! Christ is a great Gift of God to mankind! Political action should be done in more appropriate ways, outside of religious worship!
Very poor taste! We need beautiful Nativities at Christmas, to uplift hearts, and inspire people to fall to their knees, and worship the holy Christ–child — God’s greatest Gift to mankind!