Forum topic: Xmas Decor Lights overruled by religion!

I have now come to the conclusion that the reason we might not be having Xmas decor lights all around our boroughs may have something to do with making us conform to different cultural religions.

We must remember we are a Christian country and we have always had Xmas decor, Star, cribs, crucifix etc and that looks like it has all been taken away from us!! of course we welcome other religions and we do of course embrace all but to take our religion and our believes away from us to please others is not what I call a Christian thing to do!

I think the people in the Councils should stop making up all these silly decisions as they are losing site of the essence of Christmas and what we believe and what we could offer other religions and vice versa!

Christmas Time should be celebrated by all and embrace all cultures in these turbulence times we are all going through!

Happy Xmas to U All!

Sorry, Kaye, but what you say is completely wrong. The reason there are no Christmas lights is that the Council is completely broke. Huge cuts to funding of local councils by central government have led to big cutbacks in services and Enfield is no exception - in fact it has suffered worse than average cuts. You might think that you pay a large amount in council tax, but council tax provides only part of the council's income and the services it has to provide - roads, pavements, lighting, schools, waste collection, social care etc etc are very expensive, especially care for the elderly, disabled and other vulnerable people, since this is an activity which can't be automated and depends on employing people.

The council leader in Birmingham recently wrote that 80 per cent of his council's budget is spent on only 20 per cent of the population - the vulnerable people I mentioned above. This means that most of us don't actually notice these cuts. But when cuts to non-essential services such as Christmas lights happen, there is a huge outcry from the non-vulnerable population. I suspect that the council decided not to spend its scare resources on Christmas lights this year partly because it would be a wake-up call to the people who haven't (so far) been affected by cuts.

As for the link between Christmas lights and Christianity - there simply isn't one, you won't find them mentioned in the Bible or any prayer books. I suspect that all Christian ministers consider lights and decorations to be the least important aspect of Christmas and the one they would be happiest to go without.

And in any case the majority of the UK's Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Humanists and plain old Atheists like me celebrate Christmas - it helps cheer us up during the dark and cold weeks.