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November 2, 2005
UK: Muslim-Sensitive Council Outlaws Word "Christmas"
Sometimes, Britain feels like it has become another country. After banning images of pigs by Dudley Council in the Midlands, the latest example of multiculturalist appeasement comes from the London Borough of Lambeth. In previous years, councillors heralded the switching on of Christmas lights. No more. Now the lights which illuminate shopping areas have been renamed "Winter Lights", states today's Times.
The council in South London has also allowed the lights to be called "Celebrity Lights", but what celebrities have to do with the lights is unclear. "Celebration" might have been a better term.
Lambeth used to be staunchly Labour and left-wing, but now is run by a coalition of Tories and Liberal Democrats. An apparatchik of the council announced: "The term winter lights simply reflects the fact that a number of religious festivals take place over the winter period when the lights are switched on."
Yesterday, the issue was described in some depth by icsouthlondon, who said that in all promotional literature, the word Christmas has been omitted. One Conservative Councillor has criticised the move. Bernard Gentry of Clapham Town ward has called the measure "political correctness gone mad." He said it was good to acknowledge other faiths' festivals, such as Diwali, Ramadan and Yom Kippur, but in the same vein the Christian festival of Christmas should also be acknowledged.
A pastor, from Clapham Christian Fellowship supported Councillor Gentry. Reverend Roger Stedman stated: "The lights are there to mark Christmas and as such should be called Christmas lights. We should respect Christmas in the same way we respect the festivals and events of other religions."
The only Lambeth region to still call the lights "Christmas Lights" is Norwood.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 2, 2005 6:48 AM
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