One town uses name from Harry Potter book for its politically correct season
LONDON, Nov 5, 01 (CWNews.com/LSN.ca)) – Residents of Luton, England, will not be able to celebrate Christmas this year. Instead, the town’s official ceremonies will be re-branded “Luminos,” a word taken from the wildly popular line of Harry Potter books.
In it’s attempts to be all-inclusive, the town on the outskirts of London has been accused of “politically correct paranoia” by both Christian and Muslim groups. Iain Bainbridge, a spokesman for the Christian Institute, described the approach as a “ridiculous overreaction.”“It is not so much an agenda of sensitivity to other faiths as a secular agenda,” he told The Times. “In areas where you have large numbers of a certain ethnic group it is quite normal for specifically religious celebrations to be accepted.”
He continued, “It is political correctness gone mad. In a country with a strong Christian heritage and a predominantly Christian constitution it is crazy not to have this manifest at Christmas. We are renowned as a country of religious tolerance but it now appears as if the Christian faith is respected the least.”
Akhbar Dad Khan, the former general secretary of Luton’s Islamic Cultural Society and an interfaith spokesman for the Islamic community, said the Christian complaint was entirely understandable. “All people from all faiths recognize and appreciate each other,” he said. “We do live in a predominantly Christian society and people from other faiths have accepted that. Each faith has its own characteristics and the celebration of any particular faith would not offend anyone else. We are all grown up.”
Luton is the latest British town to come under fire for changing the name of Christmas. Glasgow’s festivities have been renamed “Shine On” and, more recently “Winter Festival.” Birmingham has used the term “Winterval” and Sheffield no longer has Christmas illuminations but has changed to “city lights.”
Re-produced from Catholic World News