Dec 16 2008
The land of Dickens says Bah Humbug to Christmas
And the unlikely culprit who is sanitizing and secularizing Christmas? The Church of England:
Churches are making traditional Christmas carols politically correct by removing words such as “king”, “son” and “virgin”, it is claimed.
Enduring favourites such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen are being altered by clergy to make them more “modern and inclusive”.
But churchgoers say there is no need to change the popular carols and complain that the result is a “festive car crash” if not everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.
It comes just a day after a Church of England vicar banned his congregation from singing O Little Town of Bethlehem because he believed its words do not reflect the suffering endured by modern residents of Jesus’s birthplace.
Another clergyman has rewritten the Twelve Days of Christmas to include Aids victims, drug addicts and hoodies.
Steve Goddard, co-editor of the Christian website Ship of Fools, which is running a competition to find the worst example of a rewritten carol, said: “It’s a festive car crash.
The result: Chaos!
“Half the congregation sing familiar words from memory, while the rest stumble over revised alternatives. Our readers are telling us straight – for some new versions there should be no room at the inn.”
Among the “theologically-modified, politically-corrected” carols encountered by visitors to the website are Hark the Herald Angels Sing in which the line “Glory to the newborn King” has been replaced by “Glory to the Christ child, bring”.
The well-known refrain of O Come All Ye Faithful – “O come let us adore Him” – has also been changed in one church to “O come in adoration”, both changes apparently made for fear the original was sexist.
“[One reader] wrote in asking if the original line was considered too gender-specific,” Mr Goddard said. “But as he rightly pointed out, Jesus wasn’t hermaphrodite, neither was he a girl.”
Churchgoers at one carol service will not be allowed to sing the words “all in white” during Once in Royal David’s City in case they appear racist, while another cleric has removed the word “virgin” from God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.
Idiots. Bloody idiots…
2 Responses to “The land of Dickens says Bah Humbug to Christmas”
Just in case anyone hoped that the C of E was the anchor of the Anglican Communion. Oh, well. “Idiots” is about the best I can say as well.
You would think that an “Institution of God” would be able to remain a constant force for Him in these days. I think this just goes to show that the Church of England is, and has always been merely an institution of men.