Both Muslim and Christian elderly residents in a housing complex in the UK are upset at a ban that was issued recently against religious artifacts from being displayed on the premises.

The ban was announced in a letter that was sent to residents of all 40 flats in St. Paul’s Court in Preston, Lancashire, which also requested that they take down any religious icons and signs that may disturb the community.

Not allowed

Both Christians and Muslims criticized the ban that was imposed on St. Paul’s Court, which is run by Places for People.

One resident told The Mirror, “Some people are very old and their faith is important to them. What harm can there be in having a small statue of Jesus or Our Lady on view?”

The resident also told The Mirror, “Last Christmas we were told to not display a crib, and decorations were discouraged.”

The letter announcing the ruling said, “The reason being that St. Paul’s Court is a sheltered housing scheme which promotes diversity amongst its residents and visitors.”

As a result, it encouraged the elderly residents to take it upon themselves to become champions of “equality and diversity,” according to The Daily Mail.

The staff members of Places for People are taxpayer funded, and their salaries are taken from housing benefits that are given to residents. A spokesman for the group could not specify to The Daily Mail what exactly was meant by “offending” items.

Residents were however asked to remove a number of religious signs and statues, even though the home is named after St. Paul, the apostle who has authored almost half of the books of the New Testament.

Dignity, respect

“I would describe this as removing people’s dignity and respect in their own age. I would ask them to put themselves in the position of their own residents,” Father Andrew Teather, minister of Preston Minster told The Daily Mail.

Teather told The Daily Mail, “I have never found any religious tension between people of different faiths, although one often finds antagonism from people who are not themselves religious towards people who are.

“Rather than having to appoint equality and diversity officers, why don’t they encourage people to speak to their next door neighbors?”

Teather’s sentiments were echoed by a Muslim leader, Salim Desai, who is a local councilor of Preston City.

Desai told The Daily Mail, “Yes, I think they should look at it again. I don’t know why they came to this decision, or what the underlying complaints are. I think they should think again.”

“We get a lot of our morals from religion and I would prefer people to follow religion, Christian or Muslim, and have morals, rather than no morals at all,” Desai told The Daily Mail, adding, “They are causing more problems than they are solving.”

Father Timothy Lipscomb told Mirror that the ruling is “ridiculous,” noting, “Political correctness is getting silly.”

A BBC survey revealed recently that viewers believe the BBC has an anti-Christian bias, but officials are dismissing the findings of their own survey.

According to the survey, respondents believe that Christians are portrayed as “derogatory stereotypes” and are often shown to be “dogmatic,” “unsympathetic,” “weak” and “bigoted” in BBC’s programs, the Daily Mail said.

The survey also revealed that viewers and staff (who comprised a part of the survey’s respondents) believe that BBC has a “liberal bias,” and other religions are better represented than Christianity, The Telegraph said.

The BBC survey, which was taken as a component of the company’s diversity strategy, said, “In terms of religion, there were many who perceived the BBC to be anti-Christian and as such misrepresenting Christianity,” The Christian Institute reported.

The BBC report added, “Christians are specifically mentioned as being badly treated, with a suggestion that more minority religions are better represented despite Christianity being the most widely observed religion within Britain,” according to The Christian Institute.

A survey respondent is quoted in the study saying, “As a Christian I find that the BBC’s representation of Christianity is mainly inaccurate, portraying incorrect, often derogatory stereotypes,” The Christian Institute reported.

Another respondent said Christians are shown to be “dogmatic and unsympathetic or as weak and washy and woolly, or as old,” according to The Christian Institute.

Box ticking

BBC nonetheless dismissed the findings of its own report. A spokesman said, “We have strict editorial guidelines on impartiality,
including religious perspectives, and Christian programming forms the majority and the cornerstone of our religion and ethical output,” The Telegraph reported.

However, the BBC survey noted concerns about a tendency towards ‘box-ticking’ and ‘tokenism’ as a means to portray diversity, according to The Telegraph.

BBC retains a number of religious programs, including Songs of Praise which has 2.5 million viewers weekly, but this program is scheduled in the afternoon. On Radio 4, there is a Thought for the Day slot, but usually the thoughts are secular socialist in nature rather than Christian, Daily Mail said.

There is also a 15-minute Daily Service slot which is basically a sermon, but there is no use of the Book of Common Prayer and Daily Mail questioned whether using it is prohibited in BBC.

Prime time

The larger issue however is primetime and the tendency to portray Christians in a negative manner on these slots. For example, the series EastEnders has this story line, the Daily Mail said: “Christian preacher Lucas Johnson leaves his ex-wife to die, murders his wife’s ex-husband, drowns his son’s dog, and strangles his wife and locks her in a basement, kills another woman who looks like his new wife.”

Another BBC TV show, Spooks, depicts evangelical Christians as terrorists who are out to kill Muslims. And then there is atheist comedians and soap opera script writers who like to insult Christianity, Daily Mail said.

The BBC has cautioned against seeing things such as the above in isolation. However, the Daily Mail asked, “Where are the equivalent pro-Christian story lines in their soaps?” and “Where are the equivalents presenting Muslim characters in such a negative way?”

BBC executives told Daily Mail that while they would show a scene where a bible is thrown into the dustbin, they would not show a similar scene with a Qur’an, the Daily Mail said.

Peter Sissons, a former BBC news anchor whose memoirs are being serialized in Daily Mail, said, “Islam must not be offended at any price, although Christians are fair game because they do nothing about it if they are offended.”

The BBC survey polled some 4,500 people, including a number of BBC employees. The survey revealed that many viewers think BBC has either a leftwing or laissez-faire partiality in its programming, The Christian Institute said.

More public schools are abandoning Christmas…and now they’re throwing out Santa Claus, too.

After all, the concept of Santa is based on a real Christian do-gooder named Nicholas.

Ironically, our “tolerant” society simply can’t tolerate this in the name of diversity.

In continued efforts not to offend anyone, numerous public school officials have crossed a new bridge this year.

They’ve decided that not only the religious aspects of Christmas, but anything that may be associated with Christmas, must go.

So Santa is “getting the boot” along with candy canes and red and green wrapping paper.

Christian law firms across the country are once again busy defending parents and students against schools and school districts that continue to be ignorant of religious rights in regards to Christmas.

Here are some examples of new 2009 incidents:

• Byam Elementary School in Chelmsford, Massachusetts has had a long-standing “Gift Room” fundraiser for donating and purchasing gifts. This year, the policy has been changed to ban candy canes, Christmas stockings, Santas and other “religious” items – and in fact have banned anything related to the Jewish Hanukkah as well.
• The Alliance Defense Fund is representing students’ families in this case.Their Press Release states that Byam’s superintendent defended the school’s decision as “taking a conservative approach to separation of church and state.” ADF’s representative, Jordan Lorence responds in the article: “Ignoring the 95 percent of Americans who celebrate Christmas is not tolerance.  It’s also not necessary because the idea that gifts related to Christmas would be unconstitutional at this sale is patently false.”
• In 2006, due to the previous several years’ hailstorm of public school snubs toward Christmas, the ADF contacted over 11,000 schools and 5,500 mayors explaining it is constitutionally sound to allow various activities associated with Christmas at school. Yet, the misunderstandings continue.

• New York’s East Syracuse-Minoa School District school has also banned references to Christmas from any school sponsored event. According to Christian Newswire, a letter was sent to parents stating that no specific holiday shall be recognized in any school event:
  “This is a busy time with many diverse cultural and religious traditions. Our school district honors this diversity…we must balance that commitment with respect for all students’ heritages and beliefs….” (see whole letter here).
• Contrary to this paragraph on valuing diversity, the letter goes on to say that programs involving singular beliefs may not take place at school during school hours or with any school sponsorship; i.e., no school holiday program can involve any regard for God. The Parent Teachers’ Association scheduled Santa to appear one evening at 6:00 pm.
• When approached by parents about this situation, the Deputy Superintendent explained that Santa Claus originated from the story about St. Nicholas. Parents are fighting these restrictions and have started a petition.

• One school bans, then brings back Christmas under pressure:
  In November, Bellview Elementary School in Ashland, Oregon announced it was not allowing any references to Christmas or Santa. The Christmas tree at Bellview had previously been re-named a “holliday tree,” but then Bellview Principal Michelle Zundel removed it completely and replaced it with snowmen.

A report at Accuracy in Academia states Zundel acknowledged to parents that the Christmas tree has even been ruled as a “secular” symbol by the Supreme Court; but albeit, that the tree does also symbolize Christmas, and it feels like a religious symbol to families who don’t celebrate Christmas. So anything that feels like a religious Christmas symbol is taboo.

But Zundel reversed her decision after a community meeting, dozens of communications from around the country and a letter from Liberty Counsel explaining the childrens’ true religious rights in public schools.

There is nothing wrong with Christmas in Public School. Here are some resources for parents:

• Liberty Counsel has a “Help Save Christmas Action Pack” and has joined the Christian Educators Association International in a “Friend or Foe” Christmas Campaign.
• The Christian Law Association offers a CD, “Keeping Christ in Christmas.” And numerous Christian organizations have gotten together at this “Defend Christmas Resources” Web site to offer information that can be brought to school boards and principles.