Thomas the Tank Engine Goes Politically Correct

The war on Christmas continues:

Thomas the Tank Engine has been a beloved character for decades. But now, the fictional steam locomotive is finding himself at the center of the ongoing debate surrounding political correctness and faith in the public square.

With Christmas only months away, it seems it’s never too early to debate the presence of religious references in children’s cartoons.

To sum up this Christmas controversy in simple terms: critics are accusing the team behind Thomas the Tank Engine of falling prey to political correctness by purposefully removing references to Christmas in the company’s latest DVD, “Little Engines, Big Days Out” (the episode is called “Keeping Up With James”).

Christmas, a holiday that is celebrated around the world — one that is obviously very much rooted in and centered upon the birth of Jesus Christ — has been written out of Thomas’ latest adventure.

Apparently, the latest installment features a story about “winter holidays.” In it, Christmas trees have been axed down, but rather than calling them by their obvious name, the makers chose to refer to them as decorated trees. And, as the Daily Mail highlights, presents that are wrapped with brilliant paper are delivered to a “holiday party.“ The word ”Christmas,” critics say, is avoided throughout the video.

See, all of the trains in the episode are anxious to become the special “presents train” that gets to deliver all of the gifts to the “holiday party.“ The presents train is apparently ”the jolliest train of the year.“ There are even images of children singing carols and decorating a ”special” (i.e. Christmas) tree. They’re putting “colorful decorations” (i.e. Christmas ornaments) on it. I think you get the idea.

I wonder how much of this is due to the spreading anti-Christian/anti-Religious-other-than-Islam mentality that infects Britain these days?