Kelowna removes Keep Christ in Christmas sign from downtown nativity display
The annual nativity scene display in downtown Kelowna included a sign that read “Keep Christ in Christmas”, but the city has taken it down. The scene and was set up by the Catholic society Knights of Columbus through the city’s permitting process. The Kelowna Atheists,...
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The annual nativity scene display in downtown Kelowna included a sign that read “Keep Christ in Christmas”, but the city has taken it down.
The scene and was set up by the Catholic society Knights of Columbus through the city’s permitting process.
The Kelowna Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists Association took issue with the “Keep Christ in Christmas” sign and wrote a letter to city council.
“This isn't a like or dislike situation,” the association’s spokesperson Nina George told iNFOnews.ca. “This is about the government showing responsibility and being neutral to religions.”
The City of Kelowna’s communications consultant Marnie Douglas said the sign has been taken down.
“The Knights of Columbus have set up the nativity scene through our permitting process. However, erecting a sign is not part of the permit and has been removed,” Douglas said in an email.
Douglas did not say whether complaints from the public influenced the city’s decision to take the sign down.
"However, we take issue with the inclusion of signs on the site reading “Keep Christ in Christmas.” This message is not merely festive, it is political, advocating for a specific religious interpretation of the holiday," the atheist association wrote in its letter to council.
"It may appear inoffensive and inconsequential for the city to endorse one religion so overtly. But it is important to understand that this does impact people of other faiths, and people who have no religious beliefs. It makes them feel less Canadian."
George said it’s important for the government not to take a religious stance.
“The city should not be facilitating or soliciting that kind of display,” she said. “We're asking... for next year and for future years not to solicit any religious signage,” George said.
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