One would expect that the new movie coming out this holiday season, The Nativity Story, to spend quite a bit of money on advertisements. Where might we see these ads? Television viewers will probably notice them on holiday specials and perhaps news shows; certainly they will appear in malls and shopping areas for those looking for Christmas presents. Perhaps some might even show up on bus stops and billboards around town.

One place Chicago residents won't see the advertisements will be, ironically, at the city's Christmas celebration:

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."

This decision is so stupid, it's difficult to get angry about it. Exactly which sensitive attendees of a Christmas celebration will the city be saving? If ever a target market ever existed, it's the Christkindlmarket. People go there to celebrate Christmas, and while the holiday may not have much religious significance for many of them, they can't be offended by a reminder of its religious roots -- especially since many of the displays will reflect just that.

Their excuse? Mindless multiculturalism, meaning that they reject one culture in order to keep from offending others. The festival will have displays that reflect other religious traditions, which it should, but apparently having The Nativity Story as a sponsor of the event twisted the delicate balance that the city believes it must strike in order to legitimize their involvement. Apparently, they want to keep too much Christmas from invading Christmas.

Rational multiculturalism means accepting everyone's culture, not keeping scorecards and points about how much of one we get at the expense of the other. Irrational multiculturalism has governments trying to protect the tender feelings of a handful -- if that -- of overly sensitive critics who will find any excuse to complain about everything, no matter what effort gets made. Anyone who worries that there's too much Christmas in Christmas has defined himself as a practitioner of the latter.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Christmas, As Sponsored By Secularists:

» 'Nativity' booted from Ill. holiday fair from Sticky Notes
Here we go again. "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 becaus... [Read More]

Tracked on November 28, 2006 6:39 AM

» The Nativity is not Welcome in the City of Chicago from Stop The ACLU
Kim Preistap reports on the details. In a nutshell: the city of Chicago has supported the Christkindlemarket Chicago, a traditional German American market and festival that lasts 4 weeks long and offers shopping, music, traditional German American f... [Read More]

Tracked on November 28, 2006 7:43 AM

» America’s first Muslim in Congress, Keith Ellison, wants to take his oath of office on the Koran, not the Bible from Sister Toldjah
Dennis Prager has an explosive (no pun intended) column up today that talks about incoming freshman Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever to serve in the US Congress, who has said he will not take his oath of office on the Bible and instead ... [Read More]

Tracked on November 28, 2006 1:52 PM

» Chicago: Christmas Not About Birth Of Christ from Sensible Mom
From the Chicago Sun-Times, City officials sent a message to a movie studio that hoped to help sponsor a Christmas festival with advertising for its film about the night Mary and Joseph couldn't find a room at the inn: There's [Read More]

Tracked on November 28, 2006 2:42 PM

» No Room in Chicago’s Inn from Obi's Sister
The City of Chicago threatened to pull it’s support of the city’s extremely popular 4 week long “Christkindlmarket” unless the market’s promoters removed The Nativity Story from it’s list of sponsors. (h/t WizBang).... [Read More]

Tracked on November 28, 2006 2:59 PM

» Christmas Insanity increases from Revealing The ACLU
Each year the insane push to separate Christ from Christmas gets more and more blatent, and more and more separated from reality. And each year, at the forefront of the attacks we find the ACLU. First off the Christmas holiday is a Christian Holiday, ... [Read More]

Tracked on November 28, 2006 4:05 PM

» It’s the War on Christmas…..think of the KIDS! from War on the War on Christmas
SEE WHAT YOU DID? C.O.W.O.W.O.C. LINKAGE TONIGHT Sister Toldjah has Charlie Brown…..so there! Treppenwitz celebrates Noggin, Dude!(not war related but great egg nog post) Angel at Woman Honor Thyself wonders just exactly who are we offending? Ca... [Read More]

Tracked on November 29, 2006 5:09 PM