Lord's Prayer cinema ad snub 'bewilders' Church of England

Hollywood said:
A perfect example being the Lord's prayer.
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And also if you take away the religion in the Lords Prayer it's quite a nice way to lead your life:

Don't be tempted, keep me away from doing naughty things, don't burgle anybody, let's hope I can earn some money today for food and so on.
 
Wouldn't feel offended obviously but I'd think it was weird after all there's probably less than half a million believing church goers in the UK, most of them are Roman Catholic or foreign and an ad campaign isn't going to change that.
 
That advert is crap, the biggest load of crap was the fool at the beginning, no one should be forced to watch that at a secular event.
 
Angilion said:
Christmas is technically a Christian brand name, but that's about it. A midwinter festival is a common tradition in many cultures. Various religions have tried, with varying degrees of success, to increase their power by rebadging the midwinter festival for their religion.

Maybe we should ban the word "Christmas" in any context other than the very specific religious ritual that it refers to - a mass on the 25th of December (or late on the 24th, depending on how things are interpreted).
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Indeed..

Also you may note that many christian churches of old have a yew tree outside.. that's because the yew tree existed in that spot before and harps back to an earlier 'pagan' religion.
 
Dimple said:
Yes, normal religion like Christianity etc is believed by the people who invented and follow it but Lucas made it up for Star Wars and I don't think he or anybody believes it's true.
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I think I lost belief when Jar Jar hit the screens and wasn't run through with a light sabre.
 
Dimple said:
Yes, normal religion like Christianity etc is believed by the people who invented and follow it but Lucas made it up for Star Wars and I don't think he or anybody believes it's true.
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Surely a non-made-up religion wouldn't need to be "invented"? ;)

It's also pretty closed-minded to call religions like christianity "normal"; somehow implying that other religions are somehow abnormal?

Christianity is no more or less "normal" or "made-up" than any other religion, be it Buddhism, Islam, Jedi, Scientology, Shinto, Pastafarianism, etc. You can't prove their deity/deities doesn't/don't exist, therefore the only logical conclusion which can be drawn is that there is the possibility they do exist, ergo the religion is valid.
 
Rossi~ said:
Would you pay double the amount to watch the film if there were no adverts?
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Usual CEO rubbish thinking.

Perhaps make it so people want to go and thus fill more seats and generate more money. Perhaps have sensible food and drink prices and massively increase both the number of people who go to the cinema and the profits from said food,

I very occasionally go to the cinema at non peak times as I'm totally bored. And there's like 4 other people. Loads of people either don't work or are shift workers.
 
Haggisman said:
Surely a non-made-up religion wouldn't need to be "invented"? ;)

It's also pretty closed-minded to call religions like christianity "normal"; somehow implying that other religions are somehow abnormal?

Christianity is no more or less "normal" or "made-up" than any other religion, be it Buddhism, Islam, Jedi, Scientology, Shinto, Pastafarianism, etc. You can't prove their deity/deities doesn't/don't exist, therefore the only logical conclusion which can be drawn is that there is the possibility they do exist, ergo the religion is valid.
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Or equally invalid, it honesty becomes a waste of time discussing it.
 
Dimple said:
Yes, normal religion like Christianity etc is believed by the people who invented and follow it but Lucas made it up for Star Wars and I don't think he or anybody believes it's true.
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Supposedly it isn't really about a magic man in the sky or a giant turtle, it is about how you should live your life. If people want to live their life with episode 3 according to George Lucas, it is just as valid (if not more, as it was written with a more modern perspective) as following the gospel according to John.

I would welcome SW in the cinema because it is entertainment. That advert though...
 
Interesting. David Walker, the bishop of Manchester has claimed on Twitter (@BishManchester) that:

DMC ban on religion was: Unwritten Unpublished (til last week) Unknown to its staff (who offered @c_of_e a discount) #MayTheFARCEbewithyou
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Kind of puts it in a different light if true.

I'm all for having a clear policy and sticking to it. Making stuff up as you go along is harder to justify.
 
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While i agree to an extent, it is pretty obvious to the church, the cinema, staff and everyone else that the cinema wants to appear neutral and keep business running without antagonising/alienating/annoying anyone. As it has been said it is much easier to do by no allowing any political or religious advertising.

Almost every business in retail follows this rule regardless of where it is written.

I am inclined to think that the church is playing dirty by making it seem that they are being discriminated against.

At the very least, this advert will annoy some people simply because it is religious. That is enough to want to refuse the advert. This thread is a good indication of what many may think if they saw the ad after paying £12 to watch a film.

This time of year you will see loads of decoration in shops. What you may also notice is that none of them or very very few of them have religious connotations. A staff member where i use to work received a disciplinary for putting up decorations (she was asked to decorate the tree in our shop downstairs to the office). She had brought in some of her own decorations as the old ones were a bit manky. Her use of angels and Mary and Joseph bauballs kicked up a complaint from the area manager during a visit, his reasoning was because 'the store should be neutral and not alienate one belief by serving another'.

While that was OTT, i can understand his reasoning and find the cinemas decision in this case not only just but the wiser decision.
 
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Uriel said:
Interesting. David Walker, the bishop of Manchester has claimed on Twitter (@BishManchester) that:



Kind of puts it in a different light if true.

I'm all for having a clear policy and sticking to it. Making stuff up as you go a long is harder to justify.
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Seems to be correct - the advertising policy document on their site was created on 20th Nov, and I can't find an earlier version!

Whilst I agree with their decision, and it's probably just an oversight to not have had that term it in there in the first place, it's a bit cheeky to say it's against their policy when it's a policy they've just made up!
 
Haggisman said:
Seems to be correct - the advertising policy document on their site was created on 20th Nov, and I can't find an earlier version!

Whilst I agree with their decision, and it's probably just an oversight to not have had that term it in there in the first place, it's a bit cheeky to say it's against their policy when it's a policy they've just made up!
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Well thats a bit of a leap, surely. Just because it wasn't openly published on their site doesnt mean the policy was just made up.

Would be interesting to see if there are previous examples of this policy in action.
 
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