Archbishop accuses atheists of throwing out the crib at Christmas

Responding to media enquiries over the banning of Christmas celebrations in workplaces, nativity plays which no longer include Jesus and playgroup 'winter festival' parties where Christmas has been removed, the Archbishop issued the following statement:

"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. This really is a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, or in this case throwing out the crib at Christmas.

"Aggressive secularists are behaving like the inn keeper on the first Christmas Eve and saying there is no room at the inn – no room for Christ at Christmas! 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. Have you ever known such self-adulation and hypocrisy ?

"This aggressive brand of secularism is trying to undermine the cultural traditions of this country by using flawed arguments about 'multi-faith, multi-culturalism' whilst at the same time trying to negate faith groups all together.

"Christmas is about the coming of God's light into darkness, God speaking to us in ways we can understand by the birth of the Christ-child. A coming that shows us how we can live and a death that gives us forgiveness for past wrongs, new life in the present and hope for the future.

"The aggressive secularists pervert and abuse any notion of diversity for the sake of promoting a narrow agenda. Meanwhile those other faith communities, who have stated categorically they are not offended by Christmas, know that if Christmas falls, they will be next.

"Why don't the aggressive secularists and illiberal atheists listen to the great wisdom of Sir John Mortimer, playwright and atheist, who writing in the Daily Telegraph on 28thApril 1999 said: "Our whole history and culture in Europe is based on Christianity, whether you believe in it or not. Our culture is Christian; Shakespeare, Mozart- all that makes life worth living is part of the Christian tradition."

"In a free society people have the right to describe themselves without an outsider – such as the aggressive secularist - imposing their will on others. I want to defend the right of those who celebrate Ramadan, Diwalli, Hanukkah and other festivals.

"It is noticeable that the aggressive secularists have not yet suggested these should be replaced in the same offensive terms they use about Christianity."