Devilishly Good Christmas...

[Keevan_Colton]

Church anger over 'devil' Santa

Church leaders in York say the Christmas display at one of the city's tourist attractions could expose children to "evil forces".

Instead of the usual Father Christmas, visitors to Satan's Grotto at York Dungeon are greeted by a man dressed as the Devil with a red face and horns.

"We've written to the attraction saying we would prefer if it they did not do it," said the Reverend Roger Simpson.

York Dungeon said the display was not to be taken too seriously.

As well as meeting the alternative Santa, visitors to the grotto are handed "gifts" such as severed fingers, and can write on a scroll to sign their souls away.

Mr Simpson, from St Michael-le-Belfry in the city centre, said concerns were raised at a regular meeting with colleagues from across York.

These included clergy from Baptist, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.

"It is not just complaining for the sake of it," he continued.

"There are real evil forces and we in our work come across people who are damaged seriously through their involvement with occult forces.

"We are concerned the attraction has the potential to do real pastoral harm."

On its website the dungeon says the festive attraction includes elves impaled on spikes and robins roasting over an open fire with Santa being put in a witch's cauldron and boiled.

Similar ghoulish grottos have also been set up at Edinburgh and London Dungeons, which are also owned by Merlin Entertainments Group.

A spokesman for York Dungeon said the alternative grotto had been running for many years.

He added: "There are many people who are tired and weary of the commercial aspect of Christmas and for those people our attraction comes as a light relief.

"It is all tongue-in-cheek and our visitors love it."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nort ... 074685.stm

[Coyote]

Those church people have no sense of humour. Anyways, if they don't like it, why don't they just stay away? I don't see a need to take something down just because it offends a small group of people. No one is forcing them to see these things, why must they force people not to?

You dare apply logic to a religious situation? To the rack with this one!

Heeheehe... they actually said, out loud and in public, that "children would be exposed to evil forces"... *cue "Toccatta and Fugue in D minor"*

I guarantee that if it had been a Santa Claus, they'd decry THAT for being "materialistic" and "evil" and "not the Reason for the Season (tm)".

[General Zod]

and to think if i went up to a christian church and did the same thing, citing the christians' actions and decorations as offensive to my beliefs, i'd likely get charged with either harassment or shouted down for being a bigot.

[VT-16]

"There are real evil forces and we in our work come across people who are damaged seriously through their involvement with occult forces.

"We are concerned the attraction has the potential to do real pastoral harm."

PPOR!!!!!!

[sketerpot]

Great. Our worries have moved on from "Johnny can't read" to "Johnny is being exposed to evil forces".

Damn superstitious nonse---oops, it's awfully hard to decide where "superstition" ends and where "other people's religious beliefs that you must respect" begins, so in order to avoid offending people, I'll just call them fundie dumbasses.

[neoolong]

So the place is called Satan's Grotto? Exactly what did they expect from such a place?

[Justforfun000]

Hmph. Great example of my OWN reaction compared to the other thread I'm arguing in about Janet Jackson's "exposure".

When first reading this, my initial reaction was "that's awful. Why would they do such mean spirited things to the concept of Santa". But then I let my emotional reaction sit back a bit and look at it from the light of reason, and I say what the hell. It's not something I have to see or patronize, and I have no right to judge it as "inappropriate". We all have to sacrifice things for the right way to be with each other.