This morning's Chicago Tribune reports that a trailer for the movie "The Nativity Story" will be shown after all in connection with Chicago's Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza. Originally the sponsors of the festival, at the urging of the city's Office of Special Events, denied permission for New Lines Cinema to run continuous loops of the film at its booth. (See prior posting.) However, now the city has issued a permit for the film clips to be shown at another part of Daley Plaza where a nativity scene-- along with symbols of other faiths-- is already displayed. The permit was issued to a group of Christian attorneys and custodians of the existing Nativity display.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in a release circulated by e-mail this morning, says that the new decision came in "a matter of minutes" after the Becket Fund presented its Ebenezer Award on television to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. The Award is "a specially designed Christmas stocking filled with lumps of coal, and is given each year to the individual responsible for the silliest affront to the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays."
