Ping!
The most obvious is that Clay Aiken did not make this song famous. It was written and performed for years by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene, both evangelical Christians. Lowry was a member of the Gaither Vocal Band at the time and still tours with them. Lowry’s original version as still the gold-standard for this very moving Christmas song.
I was irritated by the same thing as the author of this article the first time I heard this song, and told my wife why. However, she, who is more of a Catholic than I am, still likes it.