Unsettling Advent 2025, Day 21
We should all be concerned about government officials anointing themselves as the arbiters of what a Nativity scene should look like. Sadly, too many Christians today willingly side with Herod.
ICE Nativity Scenes: Churches Reimagine Christmas Story Amid Deportations
‘We know that Jesus was born into a Roman imperial occupation, and pretty much immediately becomes a refugee in Egypt, has to flee, and faces political violence,’ the Rev. Michael Woolf said.
Make Herod Great Again?
This issue of A Public Witness reconsiders King Herod to move beyond a flat, culture wars depiction of the religious-nationalism-pushing ruler.
From DC to the Vatican, Baby Jesus Is Wearing a Keffiyeh
The pro-Palestinian creche is intended to point out the disconnect between the idealized Bethlehem of most representations and the reality in present-day Gaza and the West Bank.
Away with the Manger? Nativity Scene at Vatican Generates Controversy
Especially in a year when the COVID-19 pandemic will rule out many people’s favorite Christmas traditions, they have a right to express their dislike of the decidedly untraditional Nativity scene on display in the center of St. Peter’s Square, said a priest who specializes in
Drive-Thru Live Nativities are Tailor-Made for a COVID-19 Christmas
Live Nativities, in which visitors drive — and sometimes, especially in warmer climes, walk — through a number of scenes retelling the biblical story of Jesus’s birth, have been popular around the U.S. for years. And it’s an idea whose time has come as the
Relic Thought to Be From Jesus’ Manger Arrives in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — A tiny wooden relic that some Christians believe to be part of Jesus' manger arrived Saturday in its permanent home in the biblical city of Bethlehem 1,400 years after it was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope.
Nativity scene dispute puts focus on Texas town
ATHENS, Texas (ABP) – An East Texas town is being dubbed Ground Zero in this year’s round of skirmishes known collectively as the Christmas Wars.