Jesus Christ was a refugee and the Three Wise Men part of an assassination plot, a bishop said in a message attacking "sentimental" Christmas images.
In a Christmas message reported in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper Monday, Bishop of Litchfield Keith Sutton said holiday songs and greeting cards falsely portrayed the birth of Jesus as "a story of a little helpless baby whose mother traveled on a cute donkey to a stable stuffed full of cuddly animals and some nice caring shepherds and wise men who came bearing the first Christmas presents."
In reality, the Church of England bishop said, "Mary and Joseph were forced to flee as refugees seeking asylum in Egypt."
Shepherds were "on the fringes of society," and the wise men were "on a mission of Herod to discover the whereabouts of the baby Jesus so that he could be killed," Sutton said in the message, posted Saturday on the diocese's Web site.
The 67-year-old bishop who has criticized Britain's treatment of asylum seekers and opposed arms exports to Indonesia and Zimbabwe said that for many people Christmas was not a time of joy.
"If we are brutally honest, Christmas is probably a real chore." he said. "For some it is more than a chore it is the most painful time of the year.
"God loved us enough to do something about it. How much do you love those around you? When God said: 'Love your neighbor', he wasn't saying: 'be nice', he was saying: 'do something for them.'"