By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News December 21, 2004
Christianity and the meaning of Christmas will be on display in the 2005 Parade of Lights, the president of the Downtown Denver Partnership announced Monday.
"We have come to a very important agreement, and we will move forward and make sure the 2005 parade honors religious significance," said Jim Basey, whose organization has produced the event every December for 30 years.
Basey met Monday with a representative of the Denver Catholic Archdiocese and Arvada pastor George Morrison. Parade officials had earlier rebuffed Morrison's inquiry about entering a multicultural float that would depict the Christian meaning of Christmas. The parade's rules have evolved over the past decade to bar overt religious themes.
News of the policy started a groundswell of opposition to what many Christians see as a growing effort to exclude them from public life.
Hundreds of Christmas carolers from metro-area churches sang along the parade's route earlier this month to express their support for changing the rules to include religous themes in the parade.
Morrison was a guest on about two dozen television and radio talk shows, some nationally syndicated, and said his church received nearly 500 messages of support.
Although Monday's meeting did not determine how the rules will be changed, it was seen as a major step toward resolving the concerns of religious groups.
The agreement calls for ongoing input from Morrison as well as the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver in developing new parade rules, likely by March 1. At Morrison's request, the archdiocese's chancellor, Fran Maier, took part in Monday's meeting, held at Morrison's church, Faith Bible Chapel. Bruce Alexander, the partnership's chairman, also was present.
"The best thing was that Pastor Morrison identified the concerns of a wide range of Christians, and Jim Basey and Bruce Alexander were very receptive and very friendly," Maier said.
Other churches will be asked for input too, though it's too early to call the format anything as formal as a committee, Basey said.
Still to be worked out are such details as where religious themes will be placed in the parade, which includes elaborate floats, marching bands and cultural groups.
Basey declined to discuss whether other winter religious holidays, such as the Jewish Hanukkah, will also be included except to say "it's important we're representative of our community."
Morrison praised Basey for asking for the meeting and said he is confident that religious themes will be properly displayed. "We feel the spirit of the season and the message of the birth of Christ will be brought out in creative ways. It will be a blessing and a surprise," he predicted.
Chronology of controversy
On Monday, the Downtown Denver Partnership agreed to allow floats with religious themes in the 2005 Parade of Lights.
• Spring 2004: Faith Bible Chapel, led by pastor George Morrison, is barred from entering a parade float featuring a Christian theme.
• Dec. 3: First of two parades through the downtown area. Churches pledge to make their presence felt by singing carols and offering hot chocolate to parade goers.
• Dec. 6: Jim Basey, the president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, sends Morrison a letter thanking him and his congregation for their "caroling and considerate interplay with the parade."
• Dec. 16: Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput agrees to join forces with Morrison.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns about the Parade of Lights. Downtown Denver is a place for people of all faiths and we regret any misperceptions that we don't welcome Christians or people celebrating Christmas. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, downtown Denver is home to nine of churches of many denominations representing congregations of thousands of worshippers. We sincerely apologize to any who were offended or confused by what they heard or read about the Parade of Lights or the Downtown Denver Partnership. This holiday season, we encourage visitors to come downtown to worship at one of these churches and celebrate this spiritual time. Our long-standing goal has been not to make any one particular group feel excluded from the Parade. In retrospect, our attempt to do the right thing ended up making some people feel excluded. Because this is a time when many people are celebrating religious events, including Christmas and Hanukkah, we have begun the process to determine how to honor the religious significance of the holidays in the Parade. We will announce any changes once our community leaders have reached a conclusion in the near future. The Downtown Denver Partnership's mission is to promote downtown Denver as a clean, safe and vibrant place for everyone including residents, employees, and visitors. We work to make downtown a great place to live, work, shop, play and worship. The Parade of Lights is one way we try to make downtown Denver an inviting place to visit during December and bring the community together. Again, thank you for taking time to write to share your concerns. By sharing ideas and opinions, we can continue to make Downtown Denver a vibrant place where everyone feels welcome. Best regards, Jim Basey President/CEO
Merry Christmas!
If it's a 'Parade of Lights', shouldn't the "Festival of Lights" be represented? As a Catholic, I'd have no problem with some floats representing Hannukah!!
Exactly. Merry Christmas! We need to see much more of this genuine American activism. Then next year the columnists might not have to write so many - they're taking away our Christmas essays.