Richard Dawkins Speaks Out Against Cinema Chain For Censoring Church of England Ad

Well-known atheist Richard Dawkins has spoken out regarding the decision of a Great Britain cinema chain to stop airing an advertisement sponsored by the Church of England and featuring the Lord's Prayer.

Dawkins reportedly tweeted about the incident involving the Church of England and Digital Cinema Media agency after the cinema group removed a 60-second advertisement promoting the Lord's Prayer from its cinemas in the country.

Although Dawkins deleted his tweet weighing in on the matter, he did say in a comment to The Guardian that he "strongly [objects] to suppressing the ads on the grounds that they might 'offend' people. If anybody is 'offended' by something so trivial as a prayer, they deserve to be offended."

Arun Arora, director of communications for the Church of England, told CNN in an interview that he is "shocked" by the cinema chain's decision to pull the church's advertisement.

"I am shocked by this wrong decision," Arora told the media outlet, adding "We worked with DCM from the beginning. We said: 'We are religious, we are the Church of England. Is there a problem with that?'"

"They said, 'no that's fine.' They were very happy and welcoming and even offered us a 50% discount on the price of advertising slots," Arora added. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also blasted the cinema chain's decision, saying in a statement that "There is no right not to be offended in the UK; what is offensive is very subjective and lies in the eye of the beholder."