In recent years, life in the United States has come with some unpleasant elephants in the room. No matter how far you are from the border, you’re likely to face a reminder that children not only remain caged in large rooms together but do so while separated from their parents.
As NBC News reported , the matter becomes even harder to stomach when you learn that at least seven children have died in the camps where this takes place since last year. This follows what was nearly a whole decade with no such child deaths in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody.
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This grave situation has been at the epicenter of much public anxiety, but one California church has decided to present a stark reminder of what’s at stake to those who may justify the way that these children are being treated.
About 30 miles east of Los Angeles stands the Claremont United Methodist Church.
Its social media presence seems to be the responsibility of Senior Minister Karen Clark Ristine, who revealed this year’s nativity display on Facebook.
We’re often encouraged to remember those less fortunate than us during the holidays, but this nativity scene does so in a very specific way.
As you can see, it depicts the infant Jesus as separated from Mary and Joseph.
All three are locked in cages topped with barbed wire and CNN reported that Jesus is also wrapped in a foil blanket.
Naturally, this imagery brings to mind the conditions that actual children now experience in border detention centers.
In her Facebook post , Ristine argued that Jesus’ family can be considered the most famous refuge family in the world as they were forced to flee what is now Israel for Egypt in order to escape the child extermination policy of King Herod.
From there, she simply asked, “What if this family sought refuge in our country today?”
As she went on to write , “Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus no older than two taken from his mother and placed behind the fences of a Border Patrol detention center as more than 5,500 children have been the past three years.”
As Ristine told CNN affiliate KABC, “If this sparks conversation, that would be one good goal.”
Indeed, one look at the comments of her post certainly confirm that this goal has been achieved.
Responses tended to take on two different characters, with some finding the implication repulsive and responding along the lines of, “It is disrespectful in my view to put the King of Kings, Lord of Lords in a cage at any time. Your political views should not be mixed with the birth of our savior. Shame on you!”
Others, however, found the display and its message powerful and suggested those opposed to it were revolted by the wrong thing.
As one commenter said, “Does the world’s most famous and worshipped refugees separated in cages make you uncomfortable USA?…it does?… Good!”
h/t: CNN , Facebook | Karen Clark Ristine
