The following attacks on crèches came to our attention this Christmas season:
Figures from nativity scenes were stolen or vandalized in Tucson, AZ; Blue Lake, CA; Millbrae, CA; Mission Viejo, CA; Moorpark, CA; San Francisco, CA; Vista, CA; Naugatuck, CT; Southington, CT; Stratford, CT; Waterbury, CT (Jesus was taken, but one of the arms was left behind); Beverly Hills, FL; Fort Walton Beach, FL; Wellington, FL; Des Moines, IA; Newell, IA; Sioux City, IA; Ammon, ID; Chicago, IL (32 figures of baby Jesus were nabbed—they were later dumped on the lawn of a Catholic church); Jackson County, IL (two incidents); Tinley Park, IL; Floyd County, IN; Fort Wayne, IN; Montgomery County, IN; Portage, IN; Wichita, KS; Hardin, KY; Lafayette, LA (two incidents); Youngsville, LA; Fitchburg, MA; Hopkinton, MA; Norwell, MA; Southborough, MA; Portland, ME; Unity, ME; Winthrop, ME; Portage Township, MI; Neosho, MO; Fayettville, NC; New Bern, NC; Raleigh, NC; Columbus, NE (12 baby Jesus figures were stolen in one day); Plaistow, NH; Hopewell Junction, NY; Rockland County, NY; Dover, OH; Utica, OH (three incidents); Artemis, PA; Bucks County, PA; Greenfield, PA; Hilton Head, SC; Sioux Falls, SD; Halom City, TX; Santa Fe, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; Whidbey Island, WA; Stevens Point, WI; West Allis, WI; and Winfield, WV.
Some of these attacks were clearly motivated by malice. The baby Jesus figure stolen in Plaistow, NH was later returned, having been defiled by a pair of devil horns. The hooligan who stole the manger from Southborough, MA left the surrounding secular decorations standing. In Sioux Falls, SD, someone crushed the face of the statue of Jesus. What’s worse, the creep in Des Moines, IA burned Jesus’ face, doused the statue with red nail polish, and twisted the electrical cord around its neck. The incident in Kansas occurred outside the clinic of late-term abortionist George Tiller. After a member of a pro-life group placed the crèche on a public strip of land, one of Tiller’s employees deemed it “offensive” and moved it behind a fence on the clinic’s property where it would no longer be visible.
