Church Swaps ‘Caged Jesus’ for Mirror in ‘ICE Detention’ Protest Display

Tonight we took out our #HolyFamily...and put you in an ICE detention cage. #LoveYourNeigh
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Katherine Rodriguez

The Indianapolis church that gained Internet fame overnight for putting statues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a cage at the beginning of this month replaced the statues with a mirror Thursday to encourage “self-reflection.”

Christ Church Cathedral placed a small mirror with the phrase “#EveryFamilyIsHoly” inside the chain-link fence on Thursday morning as part of its latest campaign to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Rev. Stephen Carlsen, dean and rector of the progressive Episcopalian church, said the church placed the mirror inside the cage to allow those viewing the display to envision themselves as illegal migrants trapped in a cage.

“The original image was about how God loves us and then how we should love others based on that. This is about how we should love our neighbors as ourselves,” Carlsen told the Indianapolis Star. “Can you imagine what it’s like to come to this country seeking safety for your family, and if you did, how would you want to be treated? What would it be like for you to be detained and in a cage?”

Carlsen said the church is also encouraging people to promote the display on social media with the hashtag #EveryFamilyIsHoly.

The progressive Episcopalian church sparked an uproar on social media from people who did not agree with the church’s stance on immigration when it first installed the display with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph inside the cage.

One woman called the church’s display “offensive” and not representative of the churchgoing population or the city of Indianapolis while another man tweeted that the church should be “ashamed” for putting up such a display and should instead “pray for forgiveness.”

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