'Nativity' Booted From Ill. Holiday Fair

B

BlaznFattyz

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,589
Reaction score
0
Points
36
A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend non-Christians. New Line Cinema, which said it was dropped, had planned to play a loop of the new film on televisions at the event. The decision had both the studio and a prominent Christian group shaking their heads.


"The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ,"...

Cont'd
 
Nothing suprises me when they take Christ out of Christmas. Just look how many Cities have Holiday Parades, Trees, etc instead of Christmas now.
 
Dor said:
Nothing suprises me when they take Christ out of Christmas. Just look how many Cities have Holiday Parades, Trees, etc instead of Christmas now.
Click to expand...
maybe they will change the name of christmas one day.
 
Meanwhile, in Germany and Austria, they want to ban Santa Claus in favor of a "more traditional Christmas celebration." :confused:
From The Scotsman:
GERMANS and Austrians are uniting against a kindly old man who brings joy to children all over the world. Their call: Ban Santa.

Campaigners in both countries claim Father Christmas is an invention of the Coca-Cola company in the United States and should be ditched.

In Austria, "Pro Christkind" - it means "For Christ Child" - want images of the baby Jesus and St Nicholas to replace the white-haired, portly old man dressed in red and white, who they see as symbolic of the commercialisation of Christmas. Their campaign, with a logo featuring a picture of Santa with a red line through him, begins on 2 December, the day before the first Sunday in Advent, at an event where traditional Christmas wreaths are made.

Thousands of "Santa Free Zones" stickers have been printed and pamphlets have been handed out reminding people that the traditional bringer of presents is St Nicholas. There are even kits on sale with stickers to turn chocolate Santas into St Nicholas.

continued...
Click to expand...
 
What a mess! I think that here in the U.S., if there are those of us who want to celebrate Christmas, we should be able to do so, and continue to call it just that. It is just silly to try and take the Christmas story out of Christmas. That said...

We do live in a democracy. This means that everyone has a right to celebrate religious or secular holidays, as long as they do not physically encroach on the rights of fellow citizens. If we are to be fair about things, then I (sadly, I admit) recognize that in a democratic system composed of so many different religious views, we should consider that even my dear Christmas festival, when funded by taxpayers, does step on some toes.

Awh, heck--what do we do? Put it to a vote? Hmmm....don't really know if that works either. (And I know, majority rules, so no one has to point that out to me, really.)

Regarding the folks in Germany and Austria who want to de-Americanize or de-commercialize the image of St. Nicholas (am I understanding this correctly?), I can sorta-kinda see where they might be trying to go. Last year, I directed a children's Christmas program at our church. It was (by my quiet choice) the first time the church had ever had a Christmas play without Santa dropping in. I know some folks were probably secretly disappointed, but no one said anything. It's not that I have anything against Santa. It's just that I wanted to concentrate on the birth of Christ. I really think that Christ and St. Nicholas or Santa in the original spirit of giving would get along quite well.

I don't know if this post makes any sense to anyone but me. All the more reason to post it?:D

InPeace,
InLove
 
Hi,

There's two stories here I think.

Christmas is supposedly a Christmas festival (aside from the Pagan one being hijacked debate) so Christ should definitely be in the Christmas. The fact that it seems to be an excuse for rampant excess and consumerism is just another issue! Here in the UK this kind of "not offending other faiths" stupidity has also been around; eg renaming it Winterfest. Finally Muslim and other groups have said "stop being silly, it's a Christian festival get on with it." None of these worriers (councils) seem to worry about Sikh, Muslim, Jewish or whatever festivals causing any upset...

Santa Claus / Father Christmas isn't really anything about the birth of Jesus is he? If he is just a marketing tool from years ago then I can understand people wanting to eject him, especially in countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland where Christmas has such a nice feel to it (maybe it's all that snow).

s.
 
Im not sure if having the show offended non-Christians. But I certainly think not hacving it offended Christians. I wonder what those officials would think about that.
At the very least they could respect a Religious tradition that has been a powerful force in shaping the culture of the country. Not to mention that for devout Christians remembering Christ is the essence of the holiday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top