Vicar Bans "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

A vicar has banned the Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem from his services after witnessing the strife-torn state of Jesus's birthplace.

The Rev Stephen Coulter has decided that the words 'How still we see thee lie' are too far removed from the reality of Bethlehem today and should not be sung in his parish.

He toured Bethlehem in a recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was shocked at how the Arab-Israeli conflict that has raged around the West Bank town has decimated its population, wrecked its economy and hit tourism. At North Dorset district council's civic carol service, Mr Coulter told the congregation he could not join in the singing of the carol.

'My parishioners know why we will not be singing O Little Town in church this year,' he said. Mr Coulter showed the congregation a nativity scene he had smuggled out of Palestine which had been carved by one of his guides. He described how the guide's family was prohibited from leaving the town, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli concrete security wall, which in places is 25ft high. This was represented in the carving as a fence separating the crib from the Wise Men.
And he highlighted reports that the Israeli government was prohibiting the movement of communion wine from Bethlehem this Christmas because that, too, was deemed a security risk.
'My guide could sometimes queue for up to three hours to get out, but his wife and toddler daughters could not because they are considered a security risk,' Mr Coulter added.
'Bethlehem today is indeed a place of dark streets and of hopes and fears. Despite the current difficulties Bethlehem is the birthplace of our Lord and Saviour."
Scene of conflict: The controversial Israeli barrier in Bethlehem, which was erected three years ago.
'The Christians we stayed with consider themselves descendants of the very shepherds who were keeping watch over flocks by night 2,000 years ago.

'Can you imagine how they feel being stopped by security guards, Jews from Russia, who have been in the country for just five years and who have all the freedoms denied those who have been there for centuries?
'They ask how the Jews who were treated so badly in the Second World War now inflict the same treatment on others.'
Mr Coulter has written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband to lobby for peace and justice in Bethlehem and to North Dorset MP Bob Walter who was present at the service. He asked the congregation and civic leaders to keep the town in their minds this Christmas. 'Please exert your influence in any way you can to work for justice and peace in Bethlehem,' he said