A growing secular lobby wants to ‘do away with the manger’ and celebrate Christmas without its religious meaning, a senior Bishop has warned.
Last week, the Rt Rev Alistair Magowan, Bishop of Ludlow, claimed that the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ does not fit with the ‘sentimentalised and often stereotyped’ images now used to mark the festive season.
In a letter called Stand up for Message of the Manger, Bishop Magowan wrote to the Diocese of Hereford:
‘There is a story of a church carol service where the misprinted first line of the carol read 'Away with the Manger’. Sadly a growing lobby want to do just that and silence the Christmas message. Keep the tinsel and the frills but throw out the baby.’
The Bishop, who was consecrated in St Paul’s Cathedral in London on 29 September 2009 and is now preparing for his first Christmas in his new role, added:
‘What I cannot quite understand is why people feel such a need unless there is something here they find uncomfortable or wish to silence. Nearly always it is those of no faith and not those of other faiths who shout.’
The Bishop, who is a member of the General Synod, the Church’s Parliament, and also serves on its Business Committee, said the Christmas story is about God becoming one of us to transform us, coming down to lift us up.
'Here is God embracing poverty, accepting frailty, becoming a refugee, experiencing political repression and eventually dying, falsely accused a criminal’s death.
‘As one writer put it: ‘With Jesus God became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood. The question this Christmas is how are we going to treat the neighbours?', he added.
(See the Diocese of Hereford report)
The Bishop is the third Church of England prelate in the last two weeks to have criticised the way Christmas is celebrated in modern Britain.
Earlier, the Rt Rev Humphrey Southern, Bishop of Repton, said that too many people try to ‘create a domestic cocoon’ of happiness by shopping and putting up decorations, ignoring those facing war or poverty who might see the greeting ‘happy Christmas’ as an insult.
The Bishop of Croydon, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, wrote that the nation’s favourite carols were 'embarrassing' and 'inaccurate' and the language used risks turning the nativity into ‘just one more story alongside the panto and fairy stories’.
(See the Daily Mail report)
Last month, two other prominent Anglican bishops urged Christians to demonstrate that they ‘are not going to disappear quietly from the market place’. They said Christians should turn back the tide of political correctness by wearing crosses or fish badges during the Christmas period and remind society of the Christian message.
(See the CCFON report)
The Bishops’ criticism comes at the time when the editors of the main TV channels have planned to mark the Christmas period with the grim storylines of murder, blackmail, divorce and incest. The Daily Mail reports that the channels will broadcast almost 750 hours of repeats over the period.
At EastEnders, there will be a now almost traditional Yuletide death. This year Archie Mitchell, played by Larry Lamb, will be the human sacrifice when he is stretchered out of the Old Vic in a body bag after a revenge killing.
In Coronation Street, Sally Webster reveals that she has breast cancer as her husband Kevin is about to tell her he is leaving her for another woman. Emmerdale will offer a shocking incest storyline.
Other characters’ marriages will be thrown into crisis with a flurry of infidelities, cash problems and seething family disagreements, it is reported.
The BBC1 medical dramas Holby City and Casualty make it a Christmas of road traffic accidents, including a car ending up on a frozen lake and a fight for life.
Channel 4’s teen soap Hollyoaks will have a murder confession and an attempted murder in a graveyard.
ITV will premiere children’s film Happy Feet on Christmas Day, and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride on Christmas Eve.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, Director of CCFON, said: ‘The Christmas message of the birth of the Son of God, our Saviour, is deeply embedded in the culture of our nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles. It is the greatest message ever told to humanity. It is not a secret anymore that there is a small secular minority, which seeks to remove any reference to this message from our society, and the majority need to stand up for our beliefs, our customs and our traditions.’