Deborah Lauter, national civil rights director for the ADL, says there is a difference between vandals who steal Baby Jesus from a nativity scene and vandals who steal the menorah: “If Baby Jesus is removed, it tends to be seen as a prank. Vandalism or theft of a menorah is just more sensitive. You feel like you’re really being targeted for your religion.”
If Catholics turned this around—claiming the theft of a menorah was no big deal—they’d be accused of anti-Semitism. But no one from the Catholic League, at least, would ever say such nonsense.
