UK cinemas ban religious ad

http://ift.tt/1Xi7ARo

Quote:

The Church of England has said it is "disappointed and bewildered" by the refusal of leading UK cinemas to show an advert featuring the Lord's Prayer. The Church called the decision "plain silly" and warned it could have a "chilling" effect on free speech. It had hoped the 60-second film would be screened UK-wide before Christmas ahead of the new Star Wars film. The agency that handles adverts for the cinemas said it could offend those of "differing faiths and no faith". The advert features the Christian prayer being recited or sung by a variety of people. They include refugees, a grieving son, weightlifters at a gym, a sheep farmer, a gospel choir and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby.

Quote:

In a statement, DCM said it had a policy of not accepting political or religious advertising content in its cinemas. It said that "some advertisements - unintentionally or otherwise - could cause offence to those of differing political persuasions, as well as to those of differing faiths and indeed of no faith," and that "in this regard, DCM treats all political or religious beliefs equally".

Not sure about this. I would certainly be annoyed by having to sit through the Lord's Prayer at a cinema, but then I find all ads annoying.

I wonder how the CoE would feel about ads that promoted Islam, Scientology or atheism being shown in cinemas?

ETA: Having thought about it a little more, I'm definitely on the side of the cinemas. With a TV ad you can mute it or change channel or just switch it off, but in a cinema you are literally a captive audience. Not acceptable.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1I7FT6P