Cinema ban on Lord's Prayer advert is deeply offensive – here's why

I’m just trying to imagine what it might say and who might indeed have written the letter of complaint that the Digital Cinema Media agency expected to receive when it decided to ban in all major cinema groups the screening of a 60-second advert from the Church of England, showing groups of people in different circumstances, praying the Lord’s Prayer – a prayer that believers and non-believers alike will, undoubtedly, know so well from their school days.
Here is the offending advert.




“To whom it may concern,
Last week I decided, as a pre-Christmas treat, to go and see the new Star Wars movie at the cinema. Unfortunately, my entire experience was utterly ruined by a deeply offensive commercial, lasting approximately 60 seconds. I and my fellow guests were aghast at the site of (I can barely write I’m so upset), people praying – yes, praying. The commercial showed people in various situations, such as refugees, people in a gym and by a grave, praying the Lord’s Prayer, which is a prayer I have always hated. I am sure you will agree that, to have to witness people clinging to hope, taking comfort and strength from their beliefs, and seeking to develop a more forgiving spirit is deeply unpleasant. It would surely be much better if people who are religious simply kept their thoughts to themselves. They can think what they like but why, in a democratic society, should they be allowed to tell others that this is what gives them comfort, strength and inspiration, even if they’re not trying to convert me? Surely you must agree with me that the Church of England must be assigned a unique restriction to stop this nonsense. Yes, I understand that other brands can pay to advertise and I just have to lump it if I don’t like the ad, but it is surely ridiculous to afford the church that same freedom, especially when it promotes the dangerous and offensive idea that God’s abundant love is offered to us all, even in our darkest hour?
I urge you to ban it. If I see anymore praying, I and many customers will feel unwelcome and unable to attend your cinemas to watch films anymore.

Yours,
(insert name)."

Other than hate mongers who choose to be offended for their own selfish reasons, I genuinely cannot see how this advert could offend anyone. I think the agency has once again fallen victim to a blind and unfounded belief that there is a mass movement of people incapable of disagreeing without being mortally offended. We know who the suspects are: those anonymous, faceless Muslims who are, apparently, offended by Christmas, and those hard-line secularists and Atheists who despise having to breathe the very same air as believers. But where are they? IF they really existed, why haven’t they turned up to every town that’s turned on its Christmas lights to protest? Why have I received Christmas cards and greetings from Atheist, Jewish and Muslim friends nearly every year? Why weren’t they jubilantly celebrating the ridiculous decision of the Irish broadcaster, RTÉ, to scrap its daily broadcasting of the Catholic Angelus prayer, also done in an apparent bid not to upset people of “differing faiths and none” to use the glib terminology of the Digital Cinema Media agency.

The truth is, these Christian haters don’t exist. The second truth is that, despite this, every boso decision like that taken in relation to the CofE advert, gives weight to a mob that is particularly vitriolic at the moment, that absolutely hates Muslims. In the wake of the Paris atrocities, they’ve gone in to overdrive in their relentless persecution of ordinary Muslims, trying to whip up fear, resentment and division. In a highly islamophobic climate such as that which we currently live under, the offending of people of differing faiths is, for too many people, shorthand for offending Muslims. I cannot think of a single group who dreads more than British Muslims must, the next council to decide to ban the word ‘Christmas,’ or the next nativity play that is stripped of the Christian story, or the next advert to be banned in a bid to silence the Christian voice from public life. Guess who gets the backlash?
Frankly, it is deeply offensive to those belonging to the category “people of differing faiths and none,” to assume that they are so narrow-minded that, because they disagree with the views of the advertisers, they would actually object to anyone’s right to advertise who they are, what they do and what they offer, in a free country. I rather think that most people would balk at the sinister way that Christianity is being relegated to the private realm of individual thought, whilst being squeezed mercilessly from public discourse. As people of every faith and none prepare to enjoy the joyful celebration of one of our major festivals, we are told implicitly by the Digital Cinema Media Agency, that we who gave the world this great festival of Christmas, are the only ones not allowed to simply tell people that this, for us, is what it’s all about.
I consider myself a moderate, reasonable fellow. Too often, attacking political correctness is shorthand for bemoaning the compulsion not to say something bigoted and unpleasant. But, when we honestly think that most audiences will be so aghast at the site of people praying that they’ll drop their popcorn in horror, I really do think that’s political correctness gone flaming nuts.