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A nativity scene set up by a private group as part of a = Christmas=20 festival is seen ...

'Nativity' Booted From Ill. Holiday Fair

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer

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CHICAGO - A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas = story,=20 the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas = festival,=20 the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a = sponsor=20 because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend = non-Christians.

New Line Cinema, which said it was dropped, had planned to play a = loop of the=20 new film on televisions at the event. The decision had both the studio = and a=20 prominent Christian group shaking their heads.

"The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still = spell out=20 Christ," said Paul Braoudakis, spokesman for the Barrington, Ill.-based = Willow=20 Creek Association, a group of more than 11,000 churches of various=20 denominations. "It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday = without=20 talking about Abraham Lincoln."

He also said that there is a nativity scene in Daley Plaza _ and that = some=20 vendors at the festival sell items related to the nativity.

The city does not want to appear to endorse one religion over = another, said=20 Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events. = She=20 acknowledged there is a nativity scene, but also said there will be=20 representations of other faiths, including a Jewish menorah, all put up = by=20 private groups. She stressed that the city did not order organizers to = drop the=20 studio as a sponsor.

"Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement = would not=20 only be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to = enjoy the=20 market for its food and unique gifts, but also it would be contrary to=20 acceptable advertising standards suggested to the many festivals holding = events=20 on Daley Plaza," Jim Law, executive director of the office, said in a=20 statement.

Officials with the German American Chamber of Commerce of the = Midwest, which=20 has organized the event for several years, did not immediately return = calls for=20 comment. The festival started Thursday.

An executive vice president with New Line Cinema, Christina = Kounelias, said=20 the studio's plan to spend $12,000 in Chicago was part of an advertising = campaign around the country. Kounelias said that as far as she knew, the = Chicago=20 festival was the only instance where the studio was turned down.

Kounelias said she finds it hard to believe that non-Christians who = attended=20 something called Christkindlmarket would be surprised or offended by the = presence of posters, brochures and other advertisements of the = movie.

"One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, = they'd=20 know it is about Christmas," she said.