A nativity scene outside the State House was vandalized on Christmas, according to the Concord Knights of Columbus, marking the second consecutive year a holiday display on Concord City Plaza has been vandalized.
On Christmas Day, someone cut the wire fencing that shields the display and painted the hands and face of baby Jesus brown, the organization’s leader, Chuck McGee, said in a press release.
Later that night, he said, activists erected a banner over the display that read “Abolish ICE.”
A police report was filed, and the Concord Police Department is actively investigating but has not identified any persons of interest.
The Concord Knights of Columbus has presented a nativity display for at least 75 years, McGee said, and while they welcome free expression of beliefs and ideas, he said it should be done “with dignity and honor.”
“As is our Christian duty, we forgive those who chose to express themselves by damaging the nativity scene,” McGee said. “We only ask that the Nativity be given the same dignity and respect any other public display is given. Jesus is not a political statement, the Catholic Church is not a political organization, and we are neither Republican or Democrat as the Church.”
In 2024, a holiday display by the Satanic Temple’s New Hampshire and Vermont congregation featuring the part-goat-part-human deity Baphomet was repeatedly knocked down and damaged. The Satanic Temple put up a new display over the 2025 holiday season: a lilac-adorned wreath encircling a pentagram.