It often bugs me when people shove both their religious AND atheist views down each others throats - pretending to themselves that they're going to change someone's opinions with stronger opinions.

So, the Church of England wants to buy ad space before the Star Wars screening... and some large cinema chains have said it is against their policy to allow ads about religion / politics...

More here ( Richard Dawkins says UK cinemas should screen the Lord's Prayer | World news | The Guardian ).

The Ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZayr-FDgf4


The decision prompted an angry response from the church, which warned of a chilling effect on free speech. Many expressed support for its position including Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist best known for excoriating religions.

He told the Guardian: “My immediate response was to tweet that it was a violation of freedom of speech. But I deleted it when respondents convinced me that it was a matter of commercial judgment on the part of the cinemas, not so much a free speech issue. I still strongly object to suppressing the ads on the grounds that they might ‘offend’ people. If anybody is ‘offended’ by something so trivial as a prayer, they deserve to be offended.


Dawkins has been a long time advocate for free speech, arguing that protecting religious sensibilities is not a reason for censorship. And despite attracting controversy over his views on religion, the author of the God Delusion has previously described himself as a “cultural Anglican”.