Church’s Nativity Scene Puts Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Cages

“How about you share the reason they are being separated, child trafficking, drugs, immunizations,” one person wrote on Facebook in response to Ms. Clark Ristine’s post, which has attracted more than 10,000 comments. “Not to mention that it is illegal to cross the border without proper vetting,” the commenter wrote.

Domonique Sanchez, 30, who has belonged to the church for decades, said Claremont as a town is “very neighborly” and dedicated to inclusion. She said she felt comforted that the church had taken a stance against family separation, even if it invited controversy by doing so.

“My family has been in this country for a very long time, for five generations, and we’re more American,” she said. “But racism is always an issue, it never goes away, and now it’s more blatant and in your face.”

Nativity scenes infused with a protest message are not new. Last winter, Fellowship Congregational Church in Tulsa, Okla., put up a chain-link fence around Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus and displayed a message on its marquee that read “The holy family was a migrant family.”

The Claremont church’s display has attracted online messages of support as well as criticism. “Thank you for having the courage to stand up for those that many would prefer to forget about,” a commenter wrote on Facebook.

Ms. Clark Ristine, 59, said the church had a history of using the Nativity scene “as a form of public witness” to bring attention and compassion to important issues. The decision to focus on family separation, she said, had been in the works since the summer. As she spoke with reporters, members of the congregation came up to Ms. Clark Ristine to offer hugs and words of support.