Church of England Tells Clergy to Edit Christmas Carols to “Avoid Unnecessary Offence”

If you’re planning to attend a carol service tonight, says Celia Walden in the Telegraph, you might want to check out the hymn sheet first, to see that you’re not singing ‘O Come, All Ye Wokeful’. Here’s an excerpt.

You see, priests have been told to edit popular carols this Christmas in order to avoid (I really need to create a custom keyboard shortcut for this phrase) “causing unnecessary offence”. Quite why you would be in a church to begin with if you found Christianity so offensive has not been made clear.

Do you see many vegans in butchers demanding to talk to the managers? Last time you were down the pub, did you notice any teetotallers raging at the landlord about his “disgusting wall of booze”?

Yet according to a whistleblower vicar, Church of England clergy across the country have been contacted and urged to alter various Advent hymns “to avoid upset”. Those singled out as particularly concerning are ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ (for depicting other faiths as being “outside of God’s grace”) and ‘Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending’ (the clergy have been sent a link to research suggesting the second verse contains “problematic words” by stating Jesus is the “true Messiah”).

In a further email sent to the Birmingham diocese, clergy were advised to: “Try to use language that won’t add further confusion or tension or take away anything from the good news of the Nativity.” And they wonder why the pews are empty?

If the Church of England were a business – and learning to operate like one is probably the only thing that could save it now – it would have gone into receivership years ago. Why? Because you cannot sell people a product while simultaneously apologising for the abject awfulness of that product.

Worth reading in full.