A church in Evanston, Illinois has managed to turn its Christmas decorations into a full-blown controversy. Baby Jesus lies in the manger with his wrists zip-tied together. Mary and Joseph wear gas masks. Standing guard over the whole scene are masked figures dressed like Roman soldiers, but with one modern twist—their vests say ICE in big letters.
Lake Street Church of Evanston, about 15 miles from Chicago, set up the display on 25 November with help from volunteers. The church posted photos on Facebook along with a detailed explanation of what they were trying to say. The baby figure is wrapped in one of those thin emergency blankets that people associate with detention centres.
‘This installation reimagines the nativity as a scene of forced family separation, drawing direct parallels between the Holy Family’s refugee experience and contemporary immigration detention practices’, the church wrote. They explained that the emergency blanket ‘references the actual materials used in detention facilities’, whilst the zip ties on the infant’s wrists ‘directly reference the children who were zip-tied by agents during a raid on a Chicago apartment building earlier this year, where most residents were U.S. citizens’.
Why Gas Masks and Tear Gas
The gas masks on Mary and Joseph aren’t random either. The church, in its post, stated that they ‘reference the documented use of tear gas and other chemical weapons deployed by ICE agents against peaceful protesters, journalists, and community members advocating for immigration reform’.
Rev Michael Woolf has personal experience with these confrontations. On 14 November, he was arrested during a protest outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. There are photos of him lying face down on the pavement circulated across social media.
The church didn’t pull any punches: ‘This installation is not subtle because the crisis it addresses is not abstract’. They hope viewers ‘will join the conversation about what sanctuary means when families fleeing violence are met with separation, detention, and dehumanization’.
The Facebook Firestorm
The post prompted a heated debate in the comments section. ‘Blaspheme much?’ someone fired commented. Another person called it ‘The devil’s church’. Another social media user posted a long explanation: ‘Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because they had to return to Joseph’s ancestral home to be counted in the census. So Trump is just following that example and sending people HOME per a legal requirement’.
Someone else wrote: ‘Nothing expresses joy love for Christ than turning his birth into a performance spectacle’. Another said: ‘Woke. Not a true church. This church is part of the world not the truth’. One comment cut right to it: ‘Using the birth of Christ to push a totally different message. Honor the King of Kings… if He truly is your king’.
But many other users defended the church. ‘Mad respect to this church for their daring representation of the Nativity’, one supporter wrote. ‘I do hope it will make people stop and think about the awful things happening to immigrants and citizens in this country’. Someone else said: ‘Thank you for doing the good work and shining a light on the darkness’. Another: ‘This is sadly the best representation ever’.
The display has already taken damage. Mary’s gas mask has disappeared, and someone cut the zip ties off baby Jesus’s hands. Woolf invited people to come on Saturday to help restore it.
Thanks to Loretta, Kelli, Jack, and Miller for their help setting up our nativity display this morning. This installation reimagines the nativity as a scene of forced family separation, drawing…
The Bigger Picture
President Trump sent the National Guard to Chicago in September, launching Operation Midway Blitz. Similar crackdowns are happening in Los Angeles, Washington DC, and New Orleans.
Justice Department records show 600 people were arrested in Chicago, but only 16 had criminal records, barely 3 per cent, raising questions about who’s actually being targeted.
The church addressed this in their post, calling it ‘a stark reminder that enforcement terror does not discriminate by documentation status’. They concluded with a challenge: ‘The Holy Family were refugees. This is not political interpretation, this is the reality described in the stories our tradition has told and retold for millennia. By witnessing this familiar story through the reality faced by migrants today, we hope to restore its radical edge, and to ask what it means to celebrate the birth of a refugee child while turning away those who follow in that child’s footsteps’.
Lake Street Church has done provocative displays before, including one last year showing baby Jesus in rubble to highlight Gaza. Whether you think this Nativity scene is prophetic or blasphemous probably depends on where you stand on immigration. But nobody’s ignoring it.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
