.- Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, Christopher Prowse has expressed his regret at the downscaling of Christmas celebrations in the country because of fears of offending people of other faiths or of no faith. The Lord Mayor of Syndey, Clover Moore, decided to restrict her council’s budget on Christmas celebrations to $600,000, as have company executives and other local government authorities. Nativity scenes for example are seen as too offensive for being too explicitly Christian
However, the Melbourne City Council has resisted the trend and are spending $1.74 million on Christmas celebrations. "When you live in a multicultural society, you should be inclusive and add things to a society, not take things away," said Melbourne Lord Mayer John So.
The president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Yasser Soliman, told The Age newspaper that Muslims do not take any offence at Christians celebrating their faith.
