The Church of England has accused UK cinemas of “hypocrisy” after an adve-rtisement featuring a Ch-ristian prayer was bann-ed before a film but the screening of a Hindu animated film has been allowed.
The Church of England has accused UK cinemas of “hypocrisy” after an adve-rtisement featuring a Ch-ristian prayer was bann-ed before a film but the screening of a Hindu animated film has been allowed. Before every showing of The Good Dinosaur in Odeon, Cineworld and Vue cinemas across Brita-in, there is a short animated film called Sanjay’s Super Team, directed by Sanjay Patel, that shows Hindu deities acting as superheroes during prayer to protect a young boy.
In November, the same cinemas had triggered a controversy over their refusal to screen a 60-second advert showing people reciting the Lord’s Prayer, saying that it could cause offence to people of other faiths.
Arun Arora of the Archbishops’ Council, said, “I haven’t seen the film but as someone who grew up watching Hindi films and brought up on Bollywood, I have no problem whatsoever with Sanjay and certainly have no objection to the cinemas showing this film. But the fact that they are doing so shows the incoherence of their on-the-hoof policy making. Ever-y film and advertisement conveys a message. And this one seems to convey an obviously pro-religion. There is an unfortunate combination of double standards and hypocrisy on display in this decision-making process,” he said.
The advert featuring the Lord’s Prayer had been due to be shown before Star Wars: The Force Awakens but after initially agreeing to the advert being shown, Digital Cinema Media (DCM) - which handles most advertising and is owned by Odeon and Cineworld - changed its mind.
The advert, made by justpray.Uk, shows a sequ-ence of people in different settings saying the Lord’s Prayer.
The DCM said that it had a policy not to show political or religious adverts that might offend audiences.
