\n But moments after CNN arrived to take pictures of the Nativity Thursday afternoon, an unidentified man walked onto the church grounds and began forcefully knocking over <\/a>the effigies of ICE agents.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is disgusting,\u201d he said, as he slammed one of the statues to the ground. \u201cDisgusting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n He then walked to the church\u2019s \u201cKnow your rights,\u201d lawn sign, pulled it out of the ground, got into his truck and drove away.\n <\/p>\n \n When Shipley spoke to CNN earlier this week, he conceded the Nativity would likely make some uncomfortable. But that was the point.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be disturbing because what\u2019s happening in our city is disturbing \u2013 what\u2019s happening in cities all over the country is disturbing,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTo me, the story of the Nativity is the story of God coming into the world through humble folks; state violence was visited upon them, and they had to flee as refugees to Egypt.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Viewed through that lens, he added, the allusion to the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement efforts is not that far-fetched.\n <\/p>\n \n The pastor arrived at the church Thursday soon after the man drove away in his truck.\n <\/p>\n \n Missiongathering had partnered with a local art collective to create the Nativity scene and the artists were able to reassemble the display, he said. Shipley vowed to continue to speak up for those who have been impacted by the immigration raids.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is a faithful Biblical witness,\u201d he said of the display. \u201cThis is just a parable for our times and if people can\u2019t deal with that, maybe they need to sit with that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But the dismantling of the Missiongathering Church Nativity underscores why some faith leaders are grappling with whether they can \u2013 or even should \u2013 marry politics and piety this holiday season.\n <\/p>\n \n Where some faith leaders see this political moment as an opportunity to draw parallels between the birth of Christ and modern day, others find such Nativity displays to be sacrilegious affronts.\n <\/p>\n \n Indeed, the Archdiocese of Boston formally requested that St. Susanna\u2019s Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, remove its Nativity scene, which replaced the figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph with a sign that proclaims \u201cICE WAS HERE.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Below the sign, in smaller text, an asterisk notes, \u201cthe Holy Family is safe inside the sanctuary of our church,\u201d along with a phone number for an immigrant defense network hotline<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons praised the archdiocese for \u201ctaking a stand against such a dangerous and extremist narrative,\u201d in a statement to Fox News<\/a>. CNN has reached out to the agency for comment.\n <\/p>\n \n But Father Steve Josoma, pastor of the parish, has so far refused to remove the Nativity, arguing at a recent news conference that the commentary is in keeping with the Bible.\n <\/p>\n \n Over the years, the church has often used its Nativity to comment on social and political issues like gun violence and climate change, Josoma told CNN affiliate WCVB.\n <\/p>\n \n During the first Trump presidency a Nativity scene placed baby Jesus inside a cage, in a nod to the administration\u2019s family separation policy.\n <\/p>\n \n At the news conference Tuesday, Josoma said any divisiveness that arises from this year\u2019s Nativity display \u201cis a reflection of our polarized society.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThat some do not agree with our message does not render our display sacrilegious or as the cause of any scandal to the faithful,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Christmas carols herald the joy of Jesus\u2019 birth, and traditional hymns proclaim, \u201cpeace on Earth.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The popular imagination of the Christmas story often stops at the birth of Christ, said Andrew McGowan, president and dean of Yale\u2019s Berkeley Divinity School.\n <\/p>\n \n But, he said, it\u2019s in the Biblical verses that immediately follow that some faith leaders have found parallels to the plight of asylum seekers and immigrants.\n <\/p>\n \n The Gospel of Matthew, McGowan said, recounts how King Herod \u2013 upon learning that a child born in Bethlehem was destined to one day take his throne \u2013 issued an edict for all male children in the city to be executed.\n <\/p>\n \n And so, Mary and Joseph were forced to flee with their newborn son to Egypt, where \u201cthey become asylum seekers, in effect,\u201d McGowan said. They remained in Egypt, according to the Bible, until Herod\u2019s death.\n <\/p>\n \n Although overtly political Nativity scenes have drawn controversy for depicting the Holy Family as immigrants, McGowan said the comparison to Biblical canon is apt.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe parallel being made here is not just that ICE shows up to anybody\u2019s home \u2026 it\u2019s specifically the idea of the Holy Family themselves being refugees,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n McGowan, who himself is an Anglican priest and historian of early Christian communities, said modern interpretations of the Nativity story tend to overlook the violence driving the narrative \u201cbecause we want it to be about comfort and joy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI feel that being honest about what people are struggling with \u2013 as well as being honest about the aspect of struggle and suffering in the ancient story \u2013 makes (the Nativity) more powerful and helps us to know why we need to hear the story again,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2016, the official Vatican Nativity scene in St. Peter\u2019s Square featured a traditional Maltese boat crossing the Mediterranean.\n <\/p>\n \n At the time, Pope Francis said the boat was included in the Nativity<\/a> to \u201crecall the sad and tragic situation of migrants on boats headed for Italy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIn the painful experience of these brothers and sisters, we see that of the child of Jesus,\u201d he said in remarks.\n <\/p>\n \n But nearly a decade later, Nativity scenes with similar messages have drawn the eyes \u2013 and ire \u2013 of both the curious and the faithful.\n <\/p>\n \n In Illinois, less than 30 miles from the controversial ICE Broadview Detention Center<\/a>, the Nativity outside the Lake Street Church of Evanston depicts the baby Jesus in zip-ties and wrapped in a foil blanket.\n <\/p>\n \n Mary and Joseph gaze at him from behind gas masks, a nod to the recent clashes between demonstrators \u2013 including clergy<\/a> \u2013 and law enforcement outside the nearby immigration facility.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI guess the War on Christmas is back,\u201d Fox News host Sean Hannity lamented during a recent segment about Lake Street Church that decried the Nativity scene as \u201cblasphemous.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s not only a \u2018War on Christmas;\u2019 it\u2019s been open season on people of faith,\u201d Hannity said.\n <\/p>\n \n But the Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf, pastor of Lake Street Church, told CNN nothing could be further from the truth. Woolf said he believes his faith calls Christians to care for \u201cthe most vulnerable in our midst,\u201d and that\u2019s why he\u2019s joined demonstrations in support of the local immigrant community.\n <\/p>\n \n Last month, he was among those arrested and charged during demonstrations outside of the Broadview facility.\n <\/p>\n \n Despite the bracing Chicago cold, several dozen people gathered around the Lake Street Nativity Wednesday night as Woolf held a prayer vigil.\n <\/p>\n \n He encouraged those gathered to reflect on \u201cthe ICE terror\u201d that has dominated Chicago for several months.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe have to find some way not only to grieve that, but also build capacity and resilience and use our faith \u2013 and to use our saved symbols \u2013 to do that work,\u201d Woolf said of the Nativity display.\n <\/p>\n \n But taking such a visible stand also comes at a cost: Woolf told CNN since the church was featured on Fox News, they\u2019ve received multiple death threats. Undercover officers were also present at Wednesday\u2019s vigil, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Still, \u201cwe\u2019re never going to back down from anything,\u201d Woolf said.\n <\/p>\n Caught between government and gospel<\/p>\n \n But not everyone believes politics has a place at the pulpit.\n <\/p>\n \n Back in North Carolina, the Rev. Dr. Scott Suskovic, senior pastor of Christ Lutheran Church of Charlotte, has long refrained from preaching about politics \u2013 he even published a 2022 op-ed<\/a> in the Wall Street Journal defending his view.\n <\/p>\n \n But this year, as immigration officers descended on his city, Suskovic told CNN he felt compelled to speak to his congregation about balancing the inherent tension between the laws of man and the Gospel.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe law is the one that tells us how to act and behave and perform; and the Gospel comes with love and forgiveness,\u201d Suskovic said. \u201cYou have to have both for them to really have any kind of meaning.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"At](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-08t210530z-2118882226-rc2jciavwtd6-rtrmadp-3-migration-usa.jpg\")
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