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Brown blasts playgroups that celebrate winter, not Christmas
Last updated at 00:37am on 08.12.06
The government's Sure Start programme funds 'winter' parties for tiny tots, not Christmas parties
Gordon Brown last night condemned Labour's own Sure Start playgroups for replacing their Christmas parties with politically-correct "winter celebrations".
The Chancellor said the idea that non-Christians would have been offended was simply wrong.
The Archbishop of York, along with leaders of all faiths, also demanded bosses of the £3 billion scheme for under-fives end their plan to hold only "general parties", "circus skills" and "craft" sessions.
Joining the Campaign for a Real Christmas, Mr Brown, a key architect of the Sure Start policy, said 'no community' in Britain was offended by the celebration of Christmas.
• Straw hits out over Christmas ban
Speaking to an audience of Muslims, Hindus and other faiths in Wembley last night, he said: "Just this evening, I was told that some Sure Start centres are being urged this year to call their children's Christmas parties 'winter celebrations'.
"The fact is children of all faiths all over Britain will be looking forward to Christmas in a few weeks time, and it is right that they can celebrate Christmas."
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said: "There is a worrying trend to be seen where illiberal atheists have combined with aggressive secularists to create a ludicrous situation where those who don't believe in God have decided that a Christian festival is offending other faiths. "Aggressive secularists are trying to pretend that it is possible to enter into the true meaning of Christmas by leaving out Jesus Christ.
"The person who is at the heart of the celebration is totally excluded. It is like having a birthday party, the guests turning up and giving each other presents, forgetting why they came and totally excluding the birthday child."
The government's Sure Start programme - which Mr Brown devised to raise educational standards among poorer families - funds playgroups and pre-school education groups across the country. But there is no national policy on Christmas and staff running individual groups are left to produce their own programme of events. Sheffield's Gleadless Valley Sure Start Centre did not use the word 'Christmas' when promoting its "winter celebration" in a newsletter.
Joy Wright, 30, a mother of 13-month-old twins Amber and Natasha, complained and was told:"We will not be referring to Christmas because we are not affiliated to any one religion."
She said:"I run my own drop-in toddler group and up to a third of members are Muslim. They are not offended in the least by Christmas."
The Daily Mail also found two Sure Start toddlers' groups in London who have intentionally avoided reference to Christmas in their December events.
Gillian Thompson who works at the Kilburn Sure Start Centre in Brent said: "We are having a winter children's party. It encompasses all religions, it's not excluding Christmas."
She said there were insufficient funds in the "ethnically diverse" area to hold separate celebrations for each religion.
Nicky Kumar from the Sure Start scheme in Hackney said:"We're not having Christmas parties, our groups are just having parties. It's just a general celebration. We've got quite a few people of different faiths, so we can't just have the one Christmas party when there's all the other faiths." Last week, Christian and Muslim leaders launched a battle to save the traditions of Christmas from politically-correct interference, warning it risks a backlash against Muslims.
The Christian Muslim Forum said that a Campaign for Real Christmas was needed because, while Christmas causes no offence to minority faiths, banning it offends almost everybody.
Yesterday, Jack Straw attacked proposed bans on Christmas decorations as "politically correct nonsense".
The Commons Leader said anyone who "believes we live in a society of many faiths but that we shouldn't celebrate any of them only exists in the imagination of those who are ignorant of the nature of our religions, and how they link together."
Ramesh Kallidai, Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said of the Sure Start ban: "We have not received one single complaint from any Hindu in this country who has been offended because people celebrate Christmas. If you can't celebrate Christmas in a Christian country then I think it's ridiculous."
Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra from the Muslim Council of Britain said: "This idea about Muslims being offended by carols and nativity plays is all nonsense."
* Is YOUR local town hall or Sure Start trying to stamp out Christmas? If so email the Daily Mail's Campaign for a Real Christmas at: crc@dailymail.co.uk
Reader views (11)
I have never understood how or why people would be 'offended' by people in a Christian country practising their faith.
- Jean Simmons, London, England
Bah Humbug to the lot of you PC muppets!
- Jay, London
Every taxpayer funded employee that bans Christmas should be sacked. They are a huge divisive force in this country.
- Anthony, London, W2
All the 'politically correct' Scrooges who want to ban all references to Christmas should be shipped off to a small island during the Christmas period where they can be miserable/ignorant by themselves. Stop trying to spoil Christmas for the rest of us!
- Cooper, London
Sadly Christmas has not one ounce of Christianity in it. It has become a time of gluttony and how much money the big shops can make.
It makes me sick to see the hunger and poverty in the world, even the homeless on the streets. Compare that with the rubbish people spend their money on.
- Michael Riley, London
I'm an atheist, but even I can work out that we celebrate the birth of Christ in December, so to have a celebration without mentioning Christmas is simply and plainly stupid.
- Nick Bowman, London
Wasn't his own Christmas card stripped of any religious or 'Christmasy' connotations? Or have I imagined that?
- Andy M, London, UK
It's always great to hear from people of other faiths who like Christmas and are appalled at the attempts to ban it in their name. Similarly, we Christians must keep an eye on the anti-religion Kommissars, because when they are through with Christmas, they will try to ban Diwali, Eid and so on. Christians are just their first target.
And in reply to Anons comment about the taxpayers' money - religious people pay taxes too.
- Sarah, London
This must be the first time that I have agreed with Gordon Brown!
- Graham, Reading, England
As a British asian in london - we celebrate xmas not for its religious content but as a holiday, we have the xmas tree, presents and turkey etc. I am dumb founded to the extent that "xmas has been called off" mainly due to not offending the muslim community" and to be politically correct! this country is going bonkers and really needs to be sorted.
You wouldnt seek sikhs stopping their celebrations around Vasaki, Diwali and our various Gurprubs!
- Raminder Bhalla, Northolt
Is tax payers money paying for these parties?
- Anon, London
