City in England Cancels Christmas in Favor of Potter Holiday.

Catholic World News ^ | 11/5/01

[marshmallow]

LONDON, Nov 5, 01 (CWNews.com) - Residents of Luton, England, will not be able to celebrate Christmas this year. Instead, the town's official ceremonies will be re-branded "Luminos," a word taken from the wildly popular line of Harry Potter books.

In it's attempts to be all-inclusive, the town on the outskirts of London has been accused of "politically correct paranoia" by both Christian and Muslim groups. Iain Bainbridge, a spokesman for the Christian Institute, described the approach as a "ridiculous overreaction."

"It is not so much an agenda of sensitivity to other faiths as a secular agenda," he told The Times. "In areas where you have large numbers of a certain ethnic group it is quite normal for specifically religious celebrations to be accepted."

He continued, "It is political correctness gone mad. In a country with a strong Christian heritage and a predominantly Christian constitution it is crazy not to have this manifest at Christmas. We are renowned as a country of religious tolerance but it now appears as if the Christian faith is respected the least."

Akhbar Dad Khan, the former general secretary of Luton's Islamic Cultural Society and an interfaith spokesman for the Islamic community, said the Christian complaint was entirely understandable. "All people from all faiths recognize and appreciate each other," he said. "We do live in a predominantly Christian society and people from other faiths have accepted that. Each faith has its own characteristics and the celebration of any particular faith would not offend anyone else. We are all grown up."

Luton is the latest British town to come under fire for changing the name of Christmas. Glasgow's festivities have been renamed "Shine On" and, more recently "Winter Festival." Birmingham has used the term "Winterval" and Sheffield no longer has Christmas illuminations but has changed to "city lights."

[marshmallow]

When will these fools learn that respecting other faiths (or paganism in Potter's case) does not mean abandoning your own.

[BibChr]

"We are all grown up."

Evidently not.

Dan
Biblical Christianity message board

[mgc1122]

Is this for real? Sounds like something from The Onion.

[Darth Reagan]

How bout "Saturnalia"?

[Incorrigible]

I prefer Festivus myself!

[Illbay]

This has got to be a joke, or a fraud. I don't know anything about the "Catholic World News." Is it some guy with an 8-bit word processor working in his basement in Cleveland?

[BenF]

These people originally from California?

[GraniteStateConservative]

"Festivus... for the rest of us!"

--Frank Costanza

[WyldKard]

Oh for crying out loud.

I'm no big fan of religion in particular, but this is just plain STUUUUPID. If they want to have a little fun "alterna-holiday" like Festivus, yeah, cool, whatever. But don't REPLACE Christmas with some made up holiday...sheesh

[tonycavanagh]

Are you sure this is not a windup or something some council man or women said taken out of context.

I have seen nothing in the papers about it yet or on the news.

What you say lads true, a wind up, or out of context.

Tony

[Incorrigible]

Frank: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had -- but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.
Kramer: What happened to the doll?
Frank: It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born -- a Festivus for the rest of us!

[al_c]

This has got to be a joke, or a fraud. I don't know anything about the "Catholic World News." Is it some guy with an 8-bit word processor working in his basement in Cleveland?

From thier site ...

Catholic World News is an independent organization staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate world news, written from a distinctively Catholic perspective. With regular correspondents in Washington, London, and Rome -- and contacts all around the world -- CWN seeks to provide loyal Catholics and other interested readers with all the news that affects their Church and their faith.

[pgkdan]

what a pack of idiots!

[jrherreid]

Glasgow's festivities have been renamed "Shine On" and, more recently "Winter Festival." Birmingham has used the term "Winterval" and Sheffield no longer has Christmas illuminations but has changed to "city lights."

Somewhere, the ghosts of Charles Dickens and G.K. Chesterton are shedding tears of scorn and sadness.

[Bob Quixote]

OK, let's start with the airing of grievances.

[Ward Smythe]

Instead, the town's official ceremonies will be re-branded "Luminos," a word taken from the wildly popular line of Harry Potter books.

It's Election Day in Virginia and I don't have time to get into another Potter bashing thread, BUT, associating this with Potter is a little ridiculous. The children in the Potter books celebrate Christmas AND Easter.

I really have no quarrel with those who don't like the Potter books or even who think they're "dangerous." - as long as they have their facts straight. Those who make up stories about the Potter books are more dangerous than the books themselves could ever be (and I don't consider them dangerous).

[patent]

Bumping. Let me know if you want on or off the list. Click my screen name for a description.

patent

[Bob Quixote]

Nope. I checked the link. It's for real.

[BlueLancer]

"But don't REPLACE Christmas with some made up holiday...sheesh"
Not another KWANZAA!

[Nataku X]

If this is true, then I'm Bill Gates.

Hmmm, not a bad thought...