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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| 'Nativity' Booted From Ill. |
| 2006-11-28 |
| CHICAGO (AP) - 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. Of course talking about Mo-ham-head during Ramadan would never offend non-muslims..... 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. And the public beheadings to celebrate Islam are to die for! "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. Face it Kounelias - Its not the non-christians - its the Muslims "One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said. |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #5 If you're offended by the idea of a nativity, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH CHRISTMAS!!! Damn, I hate idiots. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-11-28 21:33 |
| #4 Well, since the goofballs want to take the Christ out of Christmas are we supposed to start calling it just plain "Mas" from now on? |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-11-28 20:59 |
| #3 Iff I understood correctly the anti-Movie guy on FOX this AM, its NOT enuff for PRIVATE CITIZENS to have religious symbols ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY, THEY ALSO CAN'T = MUST NOT HAVE "TOO MANY" SYMBOLS!? Once again, more proof that 9-11 + WOT is about Radical Islam, and ONLY Radical Islam NOT SSSSSHHHHHHHHHH Clintonian Hated Nazi/Fascist = Defective/Errorful but Well-Meaning Limited Commie Amerika and our country's sacred Sacred SACRED S-A-C-R-E-D, D *** You, National Communist-Socialist mainstream. ROBIN WILLIAMS > "CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC......@[Correctness]". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-11-28 20:56 |
| #2 Not just the moslems, CF. There are also groups of the Perennially Indignant and Christophobic atheists, who provide the ACLU with so much of its work. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-11-28 19:10 |
| #1 That's it guys we have lost the war. Now they want to take Christ out of Christmas. Cindy Gatziolis needs to pull real hard on her ears until she hears a "pop". |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-11-28 18:52 |