When I first read the title of this story is thought here we go again. Then I went from disgust to anger and finally to complete outrage at the fact that there are so many spineless people in the world today. I mean being afraid to offend non-Christians when advertising a Christmas festival? For the total lack of sanity, Christmas is a CHRISTAIN holiday, and any non Christian who is offended should then be prepared to have your holidays placed in the same crucible of censorship. But we all know that this will never happen because that would be offensive to sit down and eliminate mention of Ramadan, or Kwanzaa, for fear of hurting these poor peoples feelings and intruding in their freedom of religion, not to mention their free speech rights. The US was the last I looked started by Christians but now despite still being the single largest religion in the country we are forced to subjugate our faith, and holidays for the sake of inclusiveness.
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.
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," 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."
He also said that there is a nativity scene in Daley Plaza — and that some vendors at the festival sell items related to the nativity.
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. She acknowledged there is a nativity scene, but also said there will be representations of other faiths, including a Jewish menorah, all put up by private groups. She stressed that the city did not order organizers to drop the studio as a sponsor.
"Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would not only be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts, but also it would be contrary to acceptable advertising standards suggested to the many festivals holding events on Daley Plaza," Jim Law, executive director of the office, said in a statement.
Officials with the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, which has organized the event for several years, did not immediately return calls for comment. The festival started Thursday.
An executive vice president with New Line Cinema, Christina Kounelias, said the
studio's plan to spend $12,000 in Chicago was part of an advertising campaign
around the country. Kounelias said that as far as she knew, the Chicago festival
was the only instance where the studio was turned down.
Kounelias said she finds it hard to believe that non-Christians who attended something called Christkindlmarket would be surprised or offended by the presence of posters, brochures and other advertisements of the movie.
"One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said.
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