In particular, Woolf said that the updated scene is dedicated to the memory of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a 38-year-old father of two who was shot and killed by ICE agents in October.
Jillian Westerfield, the associate minister for Lake Street Church who designed the Nativity scene, told the Chicago Tribune that the installation is meant to be provocative.
“It is offensive, because this is happening to real people,” Westerfield said. “The things that we’re showing are not imaginary, and you should be offended that this is happening to God’s children right now all over our country.”
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“Some people disagree with what we’ve done here, and some people agree with us far away,” Westerfield added. “I think it’s natural that this kind of thing is going to evoke emotional responses in people.”
