Cinema ad banned; church sues

[Aractus]

It contravenes OFCOM regulations regarding religious advertising on TV, though an audio version would have been acceptable for radio broadcast. Cinemas have discretion which seems to have been the angle the CofE was aiming at but given that it directly contravenes company policy I don't see how they've got a case. I doubt individual franchises would contradict corporate policy on this one.

Okay, but what part of the ad contravenes the OFCOM regulations? As far as I'm concerned, cinema ads shouldn't be ported from TV and should be designed for the medium, and of course they'll have different regulations.

I don't really understand the opposition to the ad - I just watched it. It's the Lord's prayer, and there's nothing really objectionable or offensive in the Lord's prayer.

http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/20...t_desk.mp4

[Wyrd of Gawd]

I'll bet that the Islamics bribed the CoE to act as the front for this. If the court rules in the CoE's favor it will open the door for the Islamics to get their propaganda shown as well. By bribing the CoE to front for them they will be able to claim equal rights without being implicated as the instigator in this issue.

[Aractus]

Less than 5% attend CofE services on a weekly basis. Guess they thought they could advertise to get some new recruits...before the new Star Wars film.

They should have included some vague references to the force in there, then at least they could have duped some of the sillier fanboys into attending an Alpha course of whatever.

Yes, but a LOT of people attend church at Christmas (and Easter). Not just all the registered church members who don't go to church weekly, but a whole bunch of other semi-religious or even non-religious people do as well. I know several people who last Christmas said they wanted to attend church, even though they don't really hold a Christian faith at all. Many people simply do it out of tradition, or because they like the experience as a part of Christmas.

Christening is like that too - a whole bunch of people will come to that, even if they have a faith that conflicts with Christianity; and a whole bunch of people who do it are non-religious, and choose to do it out of tradition.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Nothing says "omnipresent god" like needing advertisement.

[robvalue]

Yeah, funnily enough that's the kind of message I want to send to ISIS. Every time you act "for God" you're showing that you doubt God is capable of doing what he wants himself. In other words, he is no God at all. Either that, or you're saying you know better than God what he wants.

If you really believe he's all powerful, all wise, blah blah blah, then he doesn't need any help at all. Leave this stuff up to him and mind your own business.

[ignoramus]

Rob, I think they prefer it the way it is.
This way, every clown can act directly as though God is giving them instructions. It's funny how everyone's instructions just happen to be identical to what they themselves wish!
Also what better way of an ego trip than to have most important job in the world ...to work for God himself!

Nutters will be nutters...

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Less than 5% attend CofE services on a weekly basis. Guess they thought they could advertise to get some new recruits...before the new Star Wars film.

They should have included some vague references to the force in there, then at least they could have duped some of the sillier fanboys into attending an Alpha course of whatever.

Yes, but a LOT of people attend church at Christmas (and Easter). Not just all the registered church members who don't go to church weekly, but a whole bunch of other semi-religious or even non-religious people do as well. I know several people who last Christmas said they wanted to attend church, even though they don't really hold a Christian faith at all. Many people simply do it out of tradition, or because they like the experience as a part of Christmas.

Christening is like that too - a whole bunch of people will come to that, even if they have a faith that conflicts with Christianity; and a whole bunch of people who do it are non-religious, and choose to do it out of tradition.

Very true, many people still hold a nominal affiliation with the CofE especially due in part to the act it is established.

Meh, I'm not bothered or worried about that. The cohort effect has effectively demolished the core base of both the CofE and the Catholic Church in England and Wales to the point where almost as many churches are closing their doors each month as pubs (the latter is a sad statistic). The ONS data as well as several other surveys such as the British Social Attitudes Survey confirm this. I think the CofE especially is worried about its coffers continually declining as much as anything else. That's all this advert was trying to reverse, imho, by reminding people that 'hey, Christianity and the church still exists!'. Well, the above being true, the other factor in the continual decline of the CofE especially has been outright apathy towards it. Most people here won't describe themselves as outright 'atheists' but will say non-religious or that they literally don't care.

[robvalue]

So, like really, seriously, nobody, anywhere considers the Church of England to be the One True Faith, do they ??

We don't have to polygraph the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Queen or anyone on the subject, it's a given they'd fail any test of religious sincerity.

If I remember rightly, it was started on a whim by Henry VIII just so he could divorce his wife.

It can't possibly by the true faith, because that's not nearly convoluted enough to be real.

Yeah, here we go. Link.

[Mr Greene]

Aractus wrote:

Okay, but what part of the ad contravenes the OFCOM regulations? As far as I'm concerned, cinema ads shouldn't be ported from TV and should be designed for the medium, and of course they'll have different regulations.

I don't really understand the opposition to the ad - I just watched it. It's the Lord's prayer, and there's nothing really objectionable or offensive in the Lord's prayer.


OFCOM scheduling restrictions 16 c;
Items of a religious nature may not include advertising.

[robvalue]

The objection should be pretty obvious: allow one, allow all. Spend endless amounts of time watching all the religious propaganda anyone wants to send in, or just get on and watch the damn film.

What do you think an hour of various different religious "films" before the feature would do to cinema attendance?