GRANADA, makers of the popular TV soap Coronation Street, has been forced to apologise for asking a vicar to remove a cross from his church during the filming of a wedding scene, as it might have offended some viewers.
The Rev James Milnes with the 'offensive' cross
The Rev James Milnes, of St Mary’s Church in Nether Alderley, Cheshire, described the request – made during the filming of Molly and Tyrone’s wedding scenes – as a disgrace.
The cross was bolted down, so the soap’s producers hid it behind candles and flowers for the scene, which was screened on Monday of this week.
Rev Milnes said:
I can’t imagine how people would be offended. It’s a church – you expect to see a cross in there. You would expect to see the Koran in a film of a mosque, a menorah in a film of a synagogue and similarly a cross when filming a Christian church.
Rent-a-gob Christian zealot Stephen “Birdshit” Green was trundled out by the Manchester Evening News to add his two-penny’s worth:
It’s absolutely ridiculous. If you’re going to film people getting married in a church, you’re going to come across the odd cross, picture of Jesus or a stained glass window. It’s this sort of stupidity that gives political correctness a bad name.
Stephen Regan, a spokesman for the Diocese of Chester, added:
The cross is universally accepted as a symbol of Christianity, and should offend no one. Christianity and Christian characters are quite often featured in both Coronation Street and EastEnders, so why the makers of the Street should object to a cross featuring during a Christian wedding service does not make much sense.
Certainly, Christians throughout the Diocese of Chester continue to revere the cross as a symbol of hope and faith.
The 14th century church was paid £4,600 to be transformed into the wedding venue for filming in late November.
Soap bosses have admitted covering up the cross was an `error’. A spokesman said:
We are looking into how and why this happened. We chose the church because the characters of Molly and Tyrone wanted a traditional religious church wedding service in a quintessentially English church. Covering up the cross was an error and we apologise for any upset this has caused.
Rev Milnes, 29, who doesn’t watch the soap, said:
I want us to spend the full sum of £4,600 on a handmade silver processional cross. I want us to say that the cross was obscured, which is a disgrace – but guess what, we spent every penny from Granada buying the very thing they wanted us to obscure.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 15th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Stephen Green actually talks sense!!!!!!
Must be a pig flying past a blue moon somewhere
January 15th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I like the way you write your articles; calling Mr Green “rent a gob” shows he must be making an impact!!
January 15th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Bob, I don’t know where you got the ‘rent a gob’ badge for ‘birdshit’. One thing is certain, Green is out there leading his own hate spouting, loony pack. From all the articles I have read on this site, I have no reason to believe that anyone is ‘renting’ any part of him.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:05 am
How is he spouting hate? He is expressing his beliefs; is that a crime?
January 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Bob, much as I’m loathed to feed the troll, please educate yourself on Stephen Green’s history to see how laughable the latter half of the above line is. He has attempted or threatened to prosecute people on numerous occasions just for saying or creating things that offend his sensibilities.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
It should also be said that, at times, unbelievers have threatened to prosecute Christians just for expressing beliefs and/or spreading the Gospel. I once had a letter from a solicitor sent at the behest of someone who threatened me with legal action, why? Because I sent them a leaflet warning them about eternal matters and the need to repent.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Bob. You’re a twat.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Yes, indeed.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Freedom of speech is not a license to bother people with unsettling, unsolicited mail, Bob, although I hope the case went nowhere. Sounds like it would have been a waste of time all round.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
First time poster, regular reader.
Bob, you are indeed a twat!
January 15th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
What sins exactly, were you asking the person to repent Bob?
Why was it any of your business?
January 15th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Bob, the reason the solicitor sent you a letter was probably because aggressive begging is a crime.
To other posters – pointing this out, tongue in cheek, to your local police at one of those ‘community forum’ meetings they like to hold in church halls is also a great way to reduce the number of evangelicals who pester you in the street!
January 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Bob, in my religion I believe that the Big Green Bunny shat the world into existance on a Thursday at 5:00. Part of my beliefs is to remove my trousers and knickers and squeeze out a link on my desk after work, so to pay tribute to the Big Green Bunny, and to leave it there as testament to the world’s creation.
RESPECT MY BELIEFS! I DON’T CARE IF YOU THINK I’M WRONG, I’M EXPRESSING MY BELIEFS!
I have master’s project due in tomorrow. I’m a professional procrastinator.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
If I’d been the Vicar I would have rejected the money, rejected the film crew and advised them to build a registry office in the studios, after all, if these two follow national trends it’ll all end in tears anyway!
I’m inclined to wholly agree with the burned Bishop
January 15th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Reply to Stuart W: The solicitor’s letter came to nothing; I wrote to him stating that I would have no further contact with the person concerned. A few years later I related this to friend of mine who then (on his own initiative)sent the person a leaflet from another country (so I wouldn’t get the blame). Why send this unsolicited leaflet? Answer – if you saw someone in danger would you warn them? This person was an unsaved person heading for Hell. I didn’t want him to go there so I told him about the danger he was in and how to avoid it viz. by repenting of his sins and accepting Jesus as His Lord and personal Saviour.
Reply to dead yeti: the sin of unbelief
January 15th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Reply to Stuart H: The leaflet I sent was not begging. It was one that warned of Hell and how to avoid it.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Wurble: For a maiden post. Congratulations, pertinent and succinctly put
January 15th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Bob, the Victorian charge of aggressive begging is more commonly known these days as demanding money with menaces. It was creatively rediscovered by the police in the 1980′s to stop buskers whose performances were – well, more loud than tuneful!
I jokingly asked a local police sergeant at a public meeting if it could be used against some persistent street evangelists in my area, arguing that threatening small kids and pensioners with hellfire and damnation seemed like demanding money with menaces to me.
Sorry if you didn’t get the joke. Friends of the pushy biblebashers in question at the meeting did, so these days they’re better mannered, small kids don’t get nightmares, and no-one ends up in court.
Frankly the police have enough to do round here anyway investigating strange men in dresses who abuse kids, without having to take folk who talk to imaginary friends to a place with nice padded walls.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Bob. You’re still a twat.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Do I sense a certain emotional / social disconnect chez Bob?
That, and the fact that he’s a twat.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Hey Bob, if I sent you a leaflet telling you you were a complete prat and should eff off would that offend you?
Too bad. Free speech and “deeply held beliefs”, you know.
As to the cross in the church, it is perfectly reasonable that a wedding scene in a church would feature a cross. But IMO the reverend is being a bit of a dick spending the money on an expensive cross when they already have one. There are plenty of poor people who could be helped with that money.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Thank you Newspaniard for your kind endorsement of my first comment.
I usually try not to copy other peoples post but I felt this was such a valid point that it warranted some reinforcement
January 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Reply to buffy: If I received such a leaflet it would simply go in the bin. I would then pray for the sender that he/she would be saved. Sometimes I get obscene comments wen I am doing street evangelism but I don’t get offended, some of the most vocal oponents of the Christian faith have, in time, become Christians themselves.