Christianity being 'airbrushed' out of Christmas cards
Out of almost 6,000 types of Christmas card on sale in supermarkets, card shops and convenience stores sampled, only 34 featured nativity scenes.
Even when cards with other vaguely religious images, such as choirs or church pews, on the front were included, the total amounted to only two per cent.
Some shops had no Christian-themed cards at all on sale while others had only a handful, with the rest dominated by images of Father Christmas, snowmen or Christmas trees.
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A team of mystery shoppers from Nielsen brand auditors visited the card aisles in branches of supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrison, as well as smaller card shops for a study commissioned by The Bible Society.
Overall they sampled 5,706 designs, of which only 34 had nativity scenes on the front. Overall there were just 66 designs which could be classed as religious, including in boxed sets.
The report concluded that cards depicting the Christmas story appeared to be disappearing from the High Street.
It comes after a poll earlier this week found that most people do not know the all words to well known Christmas carols.
And a test involving 2,000 adults and children found that while basic knowledge of the Christmas story is still strong, some people mixed up the Shepherds and Wise men with Father Christmas.
Official census figures published last week showed that the number of people describing themselves as nominally Christian plunged from almost 72 per cent 10 years ago to less than 60 per cent.
Ann Holt, a director at the Bible Society, said: "Do we really want to see Christ being airbrushed out of Christmas, the festival of his own birth.
“People love the Christmas story – it stays with us precisely because it is visible and popular. So how come it's so hard to find a picture of it in the shops?’
Jobless to be remotely monitored by Government “If you’ve got a home where you have pictures of the nativity around for three or four weeks of the year – particularly if you’ve got a home with children, its gives you a fantastic opportunity to tell that story and so pass it on – and people do.”
Danny Webster from the Evangelical Alliance said: "Taking Christ out of Christmas is becoming all too commonplace.
“Cards that ignore the basis of the Christmas story encourage us to have peace without the prince of peace and joy without the giver of joy.
"The relentless pursuit of profit means the true meaning of Christmas is lost beneath whatever sells best.
“For most people in the UK the Christian faith still has meaning, and that should encourage us to put the commercialism aside and reflect on how and why God came to earth."
Out of 24 stores visited by the mystery shoppers, all of them in Birmingham, one – a Sainsbury’s Convenience Store – had no visibly Christian cards on sale at all.
Two other larger branches of Sainsbury’s in the city had a handful of nativity or Christian-themed Christmas card designs on offer.
Waitrose had seven Christian themed cards on offer, out of 88 in the store visited, a much higher rate than average.
Tesco also had larger than average numbers of Christian cards on sale. Two years ago the company said it had doubled its range after letters from shoppers.
A spokeswoman said: “We listened to what our customers were telling us, and have brought in some new card designs to make sure we’re offering lots of variety at Christmas time.”
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “We offer a wide range of Christmas cards - they offer a choice and reflect what our customers want to buy from us.
"Ten per cent of the retail price is donated to our charity partners Comic Relief and FareShare”. Telegraph