Vicar bans Santa from carol service

A vicar who decided his village church was a suitable place to show World Cup football on a giant screen has banned Father Christmas.

Rev Tim Storey asked Henry Cuff to remove his Santa costume at a civic carol service in St Peter and St Paul's in Blandford, Dorset.

Mr Cuff, 64, refused and left, followed by members of Blandford Lions Club.

In a website statement, Mr Storey, the Rector of Blandford Forum and Langton Long, said he wanted to put the birth of Christ at the heart of the celebration in the midst of secular, materialistic festivities which had lost much of their meaning. "This means that I do not believe that Father Christmas should be a part of church services any more than Santa's grotto should have a manger and a baby Jesus present."

Mr Cuff, who had been handing out sweets to children in Blandford before going to the carol service, said: "It's political correctness gone mad".
Daily Telegraph

I am not a religious person but what has Santa got to do with a Carol Service - was he the one with the frankincense?

Churches are competing with bars and pubs as venues for watching the big games, setting up screens to lure fans into their pews.

St Peter and St Paul's in Blandford, Dorset, is one of the churches showing games on a big screen. Almost 300 people have watched England games from the pews, three-quarters of them non-churchgoers. The Rev Tim Storey said: "We're not putting the pressure on and telling them that we expect to see them back on Sunday morning.

"But the church is in the middle of the town's marketplace and we are using this to say: 'We are at the heart of the community.' It will be a bonus if our congregations are bigger but we're encouraged that some have been asking us for times of services."
Guardian Unlimited: