Birmingham - Church leaders have clashed with council chiefs over a "politically correct" decision to call Christmas festivities "Winterval".
Birmingham City Council has introduced the phrase to describe its 42-day programme of festive family events over Christmas and the New Year.
The move has exasperated the Bishop of Birmingham, the Right Rev Mark Santer, and his colleague, the Ven John Barton, Archdeacon of Aston.
But the council defended the name, claiming it was not a substitute for Christmas, simply a title for the programme of winter festivities of which Christmas was the central point.
Archdeacon Barton said: "It is a totally unnecessary example of political correctness to avoid sensitivities people simply do not have. Christians wish Muslims a happy Divali and Muslims wish us a merry Christmas. No one is offended by the term Christmas."
