The Church of England is threatening to take legal action after the country's leading cinemas banned an advert featuring the Lord's Prayer.
The decision was made by the Digital Cinema Media (DCM) agency, which handles ads for Odeon, Cineworld and Vue cinemas, due to fears that the ad could offend audiences.
The ad features Christians including the Archbishop of Canterbury reciting lines of the popular prayer. It had been hoped the commercial would be shown across the country in the run-up to Christmas.
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The ban has left the Church "bewildered and disappointed". It has warned that the decision will have a "chilling" effect on free speech.
"This advert is about as offensive as a carol service or church service on Christmas Day," Justin Welby told the BBC. "Let the public judge for themselves rather than be censored or dictated to."
The Muslim Council of Britain has also condemned the decision. Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra told the Mail on Sunday that he was "flabbergasted that anyone would find this prayer offensive".
The newspaper goes on to argue that the ban would "heighten fears that Christianity is being pushed to the margins of society by political correctness."
But the DCM told the Church that it was general policy not to run advertising connected to personal beliefs, specifically those related to politics or religion.
The National Secular Society described it as a "perfectly reasonable" decision by a commercial organisation.
"The Church of England is arrogant to imagine it has an automatic right to foist its opinions upon a captive audience who have paid good money for a completely different experience," said the organisation's president, Terry Sanderson.
"The Church does not hesitate to ban things that it deems inappropriate from its own church halls – things like yoga. The cinema chains are simply exercising the same right."
