Christmas Banned for Offending Muslims?

A graphic circulating online shows a news headline which proclaims “Christmas is Banned: It Offends Muslims.” Today we’ll look at this story a little closer.

The image is real, but the story ran back in 2005 as part of a sensationalist piece that contained erroneous information.

History

In November 2005, it was reported by several news outlets that Lambeth (a district in Central London) had decided to rename Christmas Lights to “Winter Lights” for fear of offending other faiths. As it turns out, the initial reports were based on a “junior-level decision” that was “certainly not a council policy,” according to a council spokesman. Despite the council’s announcement that there had been no actual decision to call the lights “Winter Lights,” the story continued to spread. The council spokesman added, “The suggestion Christmas has been banned is absolutely ridiculous. The usual Christmas tree will be up in the Town Hall, the usual Christmas carols will be sung and we’re looking forward to the Christmas lights being switched on.”

Daily Express

UK tabloid Daily Express picked up the story, publishing its infamous headline, “Christmas is Banned: It Offends Muslims” on November 2, 2005. It failed to point out that the initial reports had been refuted. Aside from publishing the junior-level error as a sensationalized story, there is also no evidence that “Muslims” were ever singled out in the initial suggestions of “Winter Lights.”

Bottom Line

The newspaper headline dates from 2005, and is part of a sensationalist piece based on erroneous information.

Sources

• Row as Christmas lights renamed (BBC: November 2, 2005)
• Christmas was not ‘banned’ after all (Ekklesia: November 5, 2005)