There will be no signs of Christmas in the Kruezberg district of Berlin this year as liberal lawmakers in that town ban all public holiday displays – even those on private property –  for fear someone might be offended.

World Net Daily (WND) is reporting that the ban was imposed after Muslims in the district complained that they should also be allowed to celebrate the end of Ramadan in a public way. Fearing noise complaints, officials decided the best way to handle the situation was to ban all religious festivals from the district.

“Why should religious festivals be celebrated in public?” asked Social Democratic Party Councilor Martin Becker, according to the German media.

However, other events will be allowed to take place in public areas, such as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) festivals, which will still be permitted to celebrate in public in Keuzberg.

The same law also took away honorary awards for citizens based on religious merit, “as left-wing councilors saw no religious service as worthy of consideration,” WND writes.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which currently controls the national parliament, is condemning the new law, calling it a revival of atheistic practices that were mandated during the communist regime of East Germany.

CDU parliamentary leader Goetz Mueller told the Berlin media that he feels that “there is a tendency towards irreligion in the district.”

Peter Storck, a local Protestant church leader, was much more critical in his response to the Kruezberg ban which he considers to be outright discrimination against religious individuals.

“State neutrality towards religion and the church should not be misunderstood as ‘freedom from religion,’ this requirement is rather a policy of totalitarian states,” Storck said.

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