If It's Halloween, It Must Be Time For The Official Start of the War on Christmas

British Labour think-tank recommends "downgrading" Christmas, in recognition that Britain is no longer a Christian nation and of course in the interest of not giving offense.

Bonus: It seems the think-tank actually wished to expunge (their word) the holiday from the calendar, but considered that unachievable.

And there's more: Britishness must be redefined, it seems, as polyglot transnational multiculturalism.

Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations, says an explosive report.

Labour's favourite think-tank says that because it would be hard to 'expunge' Christmas from the national calendar, 'even-handedness' means public organisations must start giving other religions equal footing.

...

The report robustly defends multiculturalism - the idea that different communities should not be forced to integrate but should be allowed to maintain their own culture and identities.

And it says immigrants should be required to acquire some proficiency in English and other aspects of British culture 'if - but only if - the settled population is willing to open up national institutions and practices to newcomers and give a more inclusive cast to national narratives and symbols'.

It adds: 'Even-handedness dictates that we provide public recognition to minority cultures and traditions.

'If we are going to continue as a nation to mark Christmas - and it would be very hard to expunge it from our national life even if we wanted to - then public organisations should mark other religious festivals too.

'We can no longer define ourselves as a Christian nation, nor an especially religious one in any sense.

'The empire is gone, church attendance is at historically low levels, and the Second World War is inexorably slipping from memory.'

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The report, written by IPPR advisers Ben Rogers and Rick Muir, calls on Ministers to launch an 'urgent and upfront campaign' promoting a 'multicultural understanding of Britishness'.

'Multiculturalism can be shown to provide for a fairer and more liberal society and does not necessarily lead to social division and community conflict, as its critics have claimed,' it says.

On the upside, we're all going to die anyway.

posted by Ace at 09:07 PM

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