Posted on 11/06/2001 8:02:15 AM PST by 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."
It's no satire. The fact that so many think it might be, is indicative of the lunacy which inspired this decision.
I was gonna say, this sounds like Kwanzaa for white people.
No, it's not an Onion article. Nobody could produce a satire this stupid.
Tell me, who's "making up stories" about the Potter series? Any Christian who believes that his children shouldn't be reading them? :(
Like I said in my post, today is Election Day in Virginia and the polls close in an hour. I don't have time for a long drawn out fight over Harry Potter.
But, a large portion of those who would criticize Harry Potter simply parrot what they've heard elsewhere and are not basing their criticism on the facts. There are many "reviews" out there about the books by people who have never read them. Do a search for Harry Potter on FreeRepublic - there are hundreds of quotes out there that are factually wrong.
Again, I have no quarrel with those who know what they're talking about who criticize Porter. Many, however, simply don't like them because, "we'll you know, I heard..."
When The Last Temptation of Christ was in theaters my in-laws went to join the protest because others from the church were going and they "thought it was the right thing to do." (and it was) They had no clue regarding what the movie was about.
That's my argument with articles like this, and especially the poster because the title was changed (a particular FR pet peeve I have anyway) to reflect the anti-Potter bias and it really didn't reflect the whole of the article.
It's also a sore point for me because, as a Christian, I get annoyed and embarrassed by my brothers and sisters in Christ who tend to shoot first, gather facts later.
That's the case with many of the Potter-haters - at least many of them here on FR.
OMG!!!!!!! I didn't know that! Should we write our lawmakers to ban the Potter books?
I agree. I think too many are too focused on whipping others into a frenzy without all the facts.
I remember a thread that some religious righties here on FR started about Halloween being a pagan holiday and that allowing your children to 'trick r treat' is letting them celebrate paganism. The truth is it's kids dressing up as Pokemon and asking for candy -- they don't know anything about paganism through that!
Same with the Harry Potter books. Kids enjoy fantasy books, and it's quite a draw to the Potter books that a kid is involved in these types of stories. It's not practising witchcraft to read Harry Potter no more than reading about surgery makes a surgeon or reading about weather is preparing your to be a meteorologist.
Some religious right fanatics need to get a grip!
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