Merry Christmas. From here
Irish radio ban on advert about the religious meaning of Christmas
Ireland’s broadcasting regulator finds the phrase “Christmas: aren’t we forgetting something?” offensiveA radio advertisement which reminds listeners about the true meaning of Christmas has been banned by Ireland’s broadcasting regulatory body.
The controversial advertisement says:”Cakes and crackers, Santa and stockings, turkey and tinsel, mistletoe and mince pies and presents and puddings. Christmas: aren’t we forgetting something? This Christmas why not give a gift that means more?” It goes on to suggest gift items such as candles, books and artwork: “So to give a gift that means more, drop into your local Veritas shop or log on to www.veritas.ie”.
The decision to reject the advertisement followed three unsuccessful attempts by an advertising agency contracted by Veritas to meet the BCI wording requirements. The BCI said that the phrases ‘Christmas: aren’t we forgetting something?’; ‘Why not give a gift that means more?’; and ‘So to give a gift that means more’ ”offend the legislation”.Veritas director Maura Hyland noted the “myriad of adverts being broadcast for alcohol, for example – which are not creating difficulties for the BCI”.
The thought of offending “the legislation” is a supremely satisfying one; but why is the advertisement offensive? One assumes because it uses the “Christmas” word with all its inherent overtones of exclusivity. After all, Jesus made the exclusive claim of Divinity: you can’t escape the uncomfortable fact that, if he was right, all other religions are wrong.
Including the religion that inspired this:
The atheist bus campaign launches today thanks to Comment is free readers. Because of your enthusiastic response to the idea of a reassuring God-free advert being used to counter religious advertising, the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” could now become an ad campaign on London buses – and leading secularists have jumped on board to help us raise the money.
The British Humanist Association will be administering all donations to the campaign, and Professor Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, has generously agreed to match all contributions up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we raise the full amount. This will be enough to fund two sets of atheist adverts on 30 London buses for four weeks.
For some reason, we did not see any august body of legislators getting upset by this; why not?
The statement “There’s probably no God” is not a scientific statement since we are not given the actual probability and proof; it’s not an either/or statement that could be correct or incorrect as in “there is no God”; it’s not even a coherent religious statement since it requires no belief either that God does or does not exist. So what is it? It is a meaningless statement – which is why it is inoffensive. In today’s Zeitgeist we can give voice to any metaphysical meanderings we like, as long as it doesn’t mean anything that can be pinned down. The Anglican Church of Canada does this all the time.
But is The Anglican Church of Canada Christian?