Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Do They Know It's Christmas?

Don Babwin over at the Associated Press reports from Chicago:


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.

"The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ," said Paul Braoudakis, spokesman for the Barrington, Ill.-based Willow Creek Association, a group of more than 11,000 churches of various denominations.
"It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday without talking about Abraham Lincoln."

The city does not want to appear to endorse one religion over another, said Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events.

"Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would ... be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts," Jim Law, executive director of the office, said in a statement.



It seems to me that there is something about Christmas which brings out the absolute worst in "politically correct" officials around the country. Can you imagine any mayor or government representative suggesting we purposely block mention of Islam and the meaning of fasting during the month of Ramadan?

Or how about a city official demanding that we prohibit discussing that Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish New Year?

How about prohibiting all mention of Mexico and the heritage of Hispanic American's during Cinco de Mayo. After all, if we even mention the story Mexican Independence, it might somehow offend anglos who are just there to "enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts."


The city of Chicago has certainly offended me.


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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

:"Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would ... be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts," Jim Law, executive director of the office, said in a statement.

Makes you wonder who or what the source of their "guidance" was. . .

Bob Keller said...

Yep! Just who the heck is Jim Law praying to.........?

Anonymous said...

Oh is that what he meant? I thought that he was referring to his "handlers" or municipal lawyers or something. . .

BTW No disrespect is intended when I humorously refer to you here and there as "The Wonderful Wizard of U*Us". . . It was just to good a pun to pass up. ;-)

Bob Keller said...

Wizard of U*U's!! No Offense! I loved it!!

And I was really joking about Law praying.

the Wizard.....

Anonymous said...

Wonderful! ;-)