'Nativity' Booted From Ill. Holiday Fair

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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.

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.”

apnews.myway.com/article/20061128/D8LLRK9O0.html
 
I am ashamed to say that I live in Illinois. I wonder what they would have done at a Ramadan festaval, would they have barred a film about Mohammad or at a Kwanzaa festaval barred a film about African roots of black Americans for fear it might offend Christians or Jews? I think not!
 
We were going to take our kids into the city to attend this… my husband’s family is German & we thought this would be fun - but after watching the news last night we said no way.

Obviously this fair is NOT about Christmas - it’s only about making a buck.

Who would we write a :mad: letter to … the city? Anyone have a web address?

Edit: Found this address… it’s to the “Mayor’s office of special events”

moseinquiry@cityofchicago.org
 
carol_marie said:
We were going to take our kids into the city to attend this… my husband’s family is German & we thought this would be fun - but after watching the news last night we said no way.

Obviously this fair is NOT about Christmas - it’s only about making a buck.

Who would we write a :mad: letter to … the city? Anyone have a web address?

Edit: Found this address… it’s to the “Mayor’s office of special events”

moseinquiry@cityofchicago.org
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Thanks for the link. I just sent them an email stating that I am offended as a Christian and will not be attending.
 
Yet I think they’ve had fortune telling in Daley Plaza for the Halloween time celebration some years.

Merry Secular Christmas!
 
Lance said:
Thanks for the link. I just sent them an email stating that I am offended as a Christian and will not be attending.
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Figure out who actually runs and is involved with the market, itself. They’re the ones who likely need to know, also. Lost profits due to dumb decisions.
 
I live in Illinois, too, and this is foolish nonsense: makes me not want to patronize such an event.
 
Might offend non-Christians? OFFEND!? Who are they? The Queen of England? The Ayatollah?
 
But there’s a nativity in Daley plaza! Are you sure they asked them to remove the ads because of offending people? I would think the nativity (or the name Christkindl) would be more offensive than a few movie posters. Maybe they just didn’t want a corporate look with ads to the place. Mainly it is German treats and ornaments etc. on display.
 
a_cermak said:
But there’s a nativity in Daley plaza! Are you sure they asked them to remove the ads because of offending people? I would think the nativity (or the name Christkindl) would be more offensive than a few movie posters. Maybe they just didn’t want a corporate look with ads to the place. Mainly it is German treats and ornaments etc. on display.
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No, that wasn’t it. They did a segment on the news last night and they had a problem with The Nativity Movie as sponsors because part of the deal was that clips of the movie were going to be shown, on screens or whatever… that was my understanding. Anyhow, the festival people issued a statement saying something along the lines of, 'in respect to people of all faiths who attend the festival, we felt the Nativity Movie was not appropriate." blah blah blah… poitically correct garbage.
 
carol_marie said:
No, that wasn’t it. They did a segment on the news last night and they had a problem with The Nativity Movie as sponsors because part of the deal was that clips of the movie were going to be shown, on screens or whatever… that was my understanding. Anyhow, the festival people issued a statement saying something along the lines of, 'in respect to people of all faiths who attend the festival, we felt the Nativity Movie was not appropriate." blah blah blah… poitically correct garbage.
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It sounds to me like they were looking for an excuse to avoid showing the movie, and picked a rather bad excuse that has caused controversy. As has been pointed out, they do have other Christian things at the fair.

Mike
 
carol_marie said:
No, that wasn’t it. They did a segment on the news last night and they had a problem with The Nativity Movie as sponsors because part of the deal was that clips of the movie were going to be shown, on screens or whatever… that was my understanding. Anyhow, the festival people issued a statement saying something along the lines of, 'in respect to people of all faiths who attend the festival, we felt the Nativity Movie was not appropriate." blah blah blah… poitically correct garbage.
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So is the City BANNING it or did the Kriskindle people just cave in?
 
CathCentrist said:
And Mayor Daley calls himself a “catholic” :rolleyes:
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He is a Catholic, but he appeases many groups. I like him personally and the city is beautiful and he has had a lot to do with that. However, I fear that he caves in to many groups like the pro-choice groups and the gay rights activists. Many of our politicians in Chicago are Catholic, but they are not advocating for life. Many started out prolife, like Senator Durbin, but they changed to appease a broader base of people.

I don’t think that emailing the special events office will change anything, but I will do that anyway. I find this whole thing an embarrassment.
 
Heard about this on the O’Reilly factor. I was yelling at my TV when he interviewed a city official, something which is quite rare for me.

It’s a movie. People just need to get over it. My English teacher is the most liberal, feminist, gay-rights advocate I know (head of the young democrats club, the gay straight alliance, and the Jewish club), and even she recommends that her students read the Bible because of the role it plays in much of literature. As such, I’d think that a story about the nativity wouldn’t be “offensive” to anyone- there is no insult to any religion involved.

I can’t see how this can even be offensive from a secular standpoint. This is just too far.
 
Good grief, they might as well change the name from Christkindlmarket to just holiday market.:rolleyes:
 
a_cermak said:
But there’s a nativity in Daley plaza!.
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A nativity which is the old official city manger set. It used to be set up in the rotunda of City Hall/County Building. Then they trashed it. It, literally, got pulled out of the trash by some good people. That about the time that this private group got a permit to set it up annually in the plaza. It’s also when other groups added a menorah and an Islamic tribute. The market came later, in the past few years.
 
chicago said:
A nativity which is the old official city manger set. It used to be set up in the rotunda of City Hall/County Building. Then they trashed it. It, literally, got pulled out of the trash by some good people. That about the time that this private group got a permit to set it up annually in the plaza. It’s also when other groups added a menorah and an Islamic tribute. The market came later, in the past few years.
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Could you please stop referring to it as a menorah, that might be offensive to people. Please call it from now on the “holiday candle holder.”
 
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