The town best known as the birthplace of Christ can expect a further exodus of Jesus' followers after canceling Christmas celebrations and removing festive decorations, a former Catholic priest told Fox News.
"You have a town … that is no longer Christian," theologian Jonathan Morris told Fox News. "Even an essential holiday like Christmas will not be respected."
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Officials in Bethlehem, the biblical city in the West Bank where Jesus was born, announced Nov. 14 that Christmas decorations wouldn't be displayed and that holiday celebrations would be canceled to show solidarity with Gaza amid ongoing bloodshed from the Israel-Hamas war. Year-round Christmas decorations would also be removed "in honor of the martyrs and in solidarity with our people in Gaza," the city council posted on Facebook.
"We're seeing a political statement overtaking something that we Christians and that the Christians of Bethlehem consider to be so sacred," Morris said. "When you turn over a Christian holiday — a sacred holiday — to politicians, it's going to be desecrated, and that's what we're seeing in Bethlehem."
"They are saying 'anyone who attacks our Palestinian brothers … we are going to protect them, we are going to defend them, and we're not going to have a celebration here,'" Morris said.
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The former priest said the elimination of holiday decor and celebrations has destroyed tourism, which accounts for 90% of Bethlehem's revenue, according to The Jerusalem Post.
"That's how [Christians] made a living," Morris said. "So, we can be sure that not only has tourism dropped off almost entirely, but there will be a further exodus of Christians from Bethlehem, and that's tragic."
A Bethlehem city spokesperson told The Telegraph in November that celebrating Christmas wouldn't be appropriate.
"The reason is the general situation in Palestine; people are not really into any celebration, they are sad, angry and upset; our people in Gaza are being massacred and killed in cold blood," the spokesperson told the outlet. "Therefore, it is not appropriate at all to have such festivities while there is a massacre happening in Gaza and attacks in the West Bank."
The Israeli government declared war against Hamas after the terrorist group fired thousands of rockets out of Gaza and invaded the Jewish state, killing over 1,200 Israelis and taking hostages, including soldiers, women, children and elderly civilians. At least 13,300 Palestinians and Hamas terrorists have been killed during Israel's retaliatory assaults, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
But Morris blamed Hamas for terrorizing the region since it took power in 2007, causing suffering for Israelis and Palestinians alike. The group has also been accused of brutal acts of terrorism during their Oct. 7 ambush, including raping women and beheading civilians.
Meanwhile, Christians have been increasingly persecuted, becoming targets of religious harassment worldwide, according to an International Christian Concern report published Nov. 1. Morris said Hamas and other terrorist organizations have amplified Christians' risk of persecution.
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"Jews are not welcome," Morris said. "Christians are not welcome."
"That's why Israel is right to make sure that they are defending freedom and innocent life," Morris continued. "The sad part is, when you have terrorists, there's no speaking sense to them, and they've been inflicting pain on the Palestinian Christians for a very long time. Many Christians have fled."
The Christian population in Gaza has been decreasing since after World War II, but plummeted after Hamas' took control. It dropped nearly 60%, down to 1,300, between 2007 and 2022, down to 1,300, according to the University of Notre Dame.
"Once you no longer have any control or you no longer are in a place where you can actually live in peace and prosperity, then you're turning over that sacredness, even the sacred sites, to someone else," Morris said. "This is a wake-up call that should have happened a long time ago."
The Bethlehem Municipality did not respond to a request for comment.
