The Lords Prayer advert now banned in cinemas.

[Blue&whitestripes]

They are discriminating against individuals who are defined as holding those beliefs as a class by virtue of that belief. A single representative of that class would be the victim of the discrimination. It's not necessary to show that they behaved differently with individuals from different religions/belief groups.

That's nonsense. No-one is being discriminated against because of their religion (or lack of it) because the company treats ALL religious beliefs - or lack thereof - exactly the same. If they were, for example, to show an advert for Judaism using a reading from the Talmud but refused the CoE advert, then that would be discriminatory.

 

[East Level 2]

You're ignorant of this law. They're a private commercial company that have made a decision prior to this issue that they will not show political or religious advertising as it's not relevant to their product and could offend. They're not targeting a particular group and they're not stopping anyone from practising their religion. That law was designed to stop people being discriminated against for employment and housing on the basis of religion. Are they discriminating by not employing people of a certain religion? Are they showing adverts from one religion and refusing the others? Because that's the only ways in which the act is relevant to them. They're not going to show an advert of the Lord's prayer because it's not relevant and possibly offensive to anyone who's not a COE adherent.

In their own words:

• In 2013, approximately 2.4 million people participated in a Church of England service on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. During the same year, 1.3 million people attended an Easter service. (Statistics for Mission, 2013)

That's from 64 million people. Any case of this sort has to prove direct discrimination causing the oppression of someone's rights or to be in the interest of the greater good, try imagining taking their case to a judge.

Interesting numbers. Most observant Christians see Easter as the more important festival as it deals with their belief in Christ's crucifixion (which many non-Christians accept) and resurrection (which most non-Christians don't believe), whereas Christmas was tagged onto a Pagan festival marking the mid-winter. I believe studies have shown most theories of his birth suggest it was in October a few years earlier than what we now call 1AD.
So why are the church attendance figures higher for Christmas? Is it down to the commercialisation, is Easter "too religious", or do they celebrate all birthdays two months late?

 

[stonerblue]

 

[tonea2003]

its a good sign as far as i'm concerned that it is felt necessary to decide have an advert in the first place

 

[tonea2003]

Slightly off topic but why would a religion advertise anyway?

have you ever been to church lately?

 

[cibaman]

I had heard this also, but not seen any verification of this.

DCM's website now carries their advertising policy, but from what I can see from internet archives, the policy was not displayed previously. This suggests to me a hastily rewritten policy, and very underhand tactics from DCM. The CoE's surprise and bewilderment is understandable in these circumstances.

Didn't they say that the introduced the policy following complaints received after showing political ads during the Scottish referendum?

A ban seems a bit OTT. If I'd seen the ad I would probably have felt minor irritation at being preached at in an environment where I'm effectively part of a a captive audience. Not so easy as at home to hit the mute button or go make a cup of tea. But I wouldn't have been offended, at least no more than by L'Oreal ads.

 

[squirtyflower]

its a good sign as far as i'm concerned that it is felt necessary to decide have an advert in the first place

Very true
The church buying in and adding to the commercialisation of Christmas, who would have thunk it.

 

[Chris in London]

It protects characteristics but if you need an individual how about the Archbishop of Canterbury then?

Religion or belief - What the Act says
2.43 The protected characteristic of religion or belief includes any religion and any religious or philosophical belief. It also includes a lack of any such religion or belief.
2.44 For example, Christians are protected against discrimination because of their Christianity and non-Christians are protected against discrimination because they are not Christians, irrespective of any other religion or belief they may have or any lack of one.
2.45 The meaning of religion and belief in the Act is broad and is consistent with Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (which guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion).
Meaning of religion
2.46 ‘Religion’ means any religion and includes a lack of religion. The term ‘religion’ includes the more commonly recognised religions in the UK such as the Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Rastafarianism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.
It is for the courts to determine what constitutes a religion. s.9(4) s.10(1) & (2) s.10(1)

This again misses the point. What the act outlaws is withholding the provision of services on the basis of membership of one of the protected classes - race, disability, gender, religious belief etc. So if the archbishop of Canterbury wanted to advertise his new line in luxury leather wear and was refused on the basis of his religion, that would be discriminatory. But what is being withheld is not the provision of a service on the grounds of the religion etc of the person asking for the service, it is being withheld on the basis that the service being requested is not a service that is offered by the provider at all. It doesn't matter who is asking for the service - It is the subject matter of the advert that is objectionable, not the religion of the person seeking the service. Anybody of any religious persuasion or none would be denied the service for exactly the same reasons. Therefore there is no discrimination.

It's a bit like asking for halal meat from a greengrocer and then when he says 'I don't sell halal meat' complaining that you have been refused service on the grounds of your religious belief.

 

[totallywired]

I`m glad they have banned it. What the fuck has religion got to do with going to the cinema? You want religion, go to fuckin church or whatever if your daft enough. stupid cunts the lot of em.

 

[ColinBellsjockstrap]

Do what we do. Arrive twenty after the advertised time, just in time for the feature to start, then you miss all the shite.

It's not rocket science.