‘Why would somebody have such hate?’ Churchgoers stunned at vandalism against Nativity display

Members of the Bethany Lutheran Church in Ashtabula, Ohio, said they were speechless to find that someone had vandalized their Nativity scene ahead of Christmas.

The near life-size display was found scattered on the ground, and a church worker initially believed the wind had blown it down. However, they discovered evidence that it was intentionally vandalized.

‘All I know for sure is we need to pray for the person or persons who did that because God wants us to pray for their soul, and it’s going to be hard to do that, but that’s what we have to do.’

“You could see the tire tracks coming in from the north, and we are 50 feet off the road,” said Bob Oxley, who has put up the display for five years. “They came through one time, wiped it out, came through a second time, wiped it out again.”

He said there were three sets of tire tracks going through the location of the display, and on the third pass, the vandals destroyed the lighting that was set up.

“Life-sized characters. You could see they are driven in the ground with conduit to hold up to the wind. They came down, they went down through the whole length of it, and it’s probably 10, 20, 30, 40 feet long,” he added.

Church board member Jackie Featsent said she has worshipped at the church for most of her life and cannot understand what would motivate the vandalism.

“It’s just so sad that somebody would have such hate for something that is supposed to bring joy. Why would somebody have such hate to do something like that? I don’t understand, I can’t understand that,” said Featsent.

Oxley estimated that the damages added up to about $1,500 and said the display was unrepairable.

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“The last couple of years, it just seemed so much bigger and nicer,” Featsent added. “Bob had it spread out, added some extra lighting. You could see it from the main drag another block over, but you could see it from there. It just stood out.”

The church filed a police report, and church members hope cameras will help catch the culprits responsible.

“All I know for sure is we need to pray for the person or persons who did that because God wants us to pray for their soul. And it’s going to be hard to do that, but that’s what we have to do,” Featsent added.

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