Midlands Poster Campaign to Bring Christmas Back to Christ

In a huge campaign to put Christ back into Christmas, 65,000 posters will be distributed throughout the United Kingdom showing the baby Jesus wearing a yellow armband donning the words “make Christmas His story”, reports the BBC.

|PIC1|The more than 65,000 innovative and completely politcally incorrect posters are to be distributed across the UK by a Midlands Church of England diocese which says it is fighting back against the “politically correct” approach to Christmas with the new poster campaign.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt. Rev. Jonathan Gledhill, said the posters were designed to be provocative, adding that people were trying to take the Christ out of Christmas. He said this poster campaign addresses the balance.

Around 65,000 posters have been distributed to date across Staffordshire, north Shropshire and the Black Country.

Bishop Gledhill said the armbands were designed to reflect those made for the Make Poverty History campaign, which proved highly popular with young people and spurred on the craze for armbands promoting a number of peace and people causes.

“There have been reports from all over the country about local authorities, businesses, retail centres and even central government trying to take the Christ out of Christmas, claiming Christmas is offensive,” said Bishop Gledhill.

|AD|He added: “They seem to want to make Christmas history – the Diocese of Lichfield wants to make Christmas His story.”

The posters, designed by Christian Publicity Organisation, are currently being distributed in churches across the diocese in the last few days before Christmas Day.

The Diocese of Lichfield campaign follows an equally provocative poster campaign by the Church Action Network earlier this year which depicted the baby Jesus in a pose reminiscent of Che Guevara.

The striking red, black and white pastiche bore the slogan “Dec 25th Revolution Begins – Celebrate The Birth Of A Hero”.

Church Action Network said the campaign’s design aimed at dispelling the “wimp in a white nightie” image of Jesus in the UK.

The poster is free of charge for all denominations and can be seen splayed across numerous train stations and outdoor billboards in the run-up to Christmas.

Francis Goodwin, chairman of CAN, said: “Our campaigns continue to be focused on Christ, rather than the Church because we’ve found the best way to engage with the people is to talk about Jesus Christ and what he means to people today.

“We believe there is still a place for innovation and challenge in church advertising.

"This campaign will be properly co-ordinated and supported by churches and Christian agencies across all denominations and seen and heard throughout the country in the run-up to Christmas."