Every visitor to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which stands on the site of the stable where Christ was born, must stoop to enter. For the main entrance to the church is so low that no person, except a child, may walk through it erect. The door was made in this fashion to prevent medieval raiders from riding their horses into the church to persecute the Christians and disrupt services of worship. Although the threat of the medieval raiders has long since passed, the low door of the church has not been heightened to offer a more dignified and easier access to the birth shrine.

It has become symbolic and has become known as "Humility Gate." Regardless of station in life, all who would visit the place of our Lord’s birth must enter the same low door in the same humble fashion. They m…