Nationwide Festival of Light
Encyclopedia
The Nationwide Festival of Light was a grassroots
movement formed by British
Christian
s concerned about the development of the permissive society
in the UK at the end of the 1960s.
Its leading lights included the clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse
, the journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge
and a number of leading clergymen. The British pop star Cliff Richard
was a leading supporter. The movement was opposed to what they saw as the growing trends in the mass media
for the explicit depiction of sexual and violent themes. Its culmination was a pair of mass rallies in Trafalgar Square
and Hyde Park
, London
in September 1971.
It encouraged a number of other campaigns on similar themes, including the continuing Festival of Light
movement in Australia
, although it did not persist as a high-profile campaign in the UK, and the subsequent growth in the availability of sexually explicit and violent material would suggest that it had little effect on the media or on consumers.
Christian missionaries
in India. They were surprised to find a much more permissive society than the one they left.
Hill imagined tens of thousands of young people marching on London to take a stand for Christian moral principles. The idea took root when he heard of 10,000 men engaged in a March of Witness through Blackburn calling for Christian moral standards to be restored to the nation.
Soon Hill was in contact with a wide network of people sharing his concern and offering their encouragement. Among these were Malcolm Muggeridge, Mary Whitehouse, Lord Longford, Bishop Trevor Huddleston
and Cliff Richard. Grassroots support came from Anglicans, Baptists, Plymouth Brethren
and Pentecostal church denominations.
A working committee was established by Hill with Colonel Orde Dobbie (a Social Services administrator), Eddy Stride (a former shop steward and trade unionist, and now a vicar), Gordon Landreth (general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance
), Nigel Goodwin (a professional Christian actor) and Steve Stevens (a missionary aviator). Additional input was received from a larger Council of Reference which included well-known politicians, lawyers, doctors, trades unionists, bishops, ministers, and other public figures such as Dora Bryan
and David Kossoff
from the acting profession. The name "Nationwide Festival of Light" was suggested by Malcolm Muggeridge, and Prince Charles sent "every good wish for the success of the Festival".
The movement had two expressed aims: to protest against "sexploitation
" in the media and the arts, and to offer the teaching of Christ as the key to recovering moral stability in the nation. Some supporters naturally emphasized the first, and others the second. Plans were made for major public events, including the lighting of beacons on hilltops throughout the United Kingdom, and culminating in a massed march to a public rally in Trafalgar Square and an open-air concert of Christian music in Hyde Park.
The administrative task of enlisting the support of Christian churches and denominations throughout the UK was a colossal one, as indeed was the necessity for public relations with the press and the general public. The committee and many local volunteers were occupied with this throughout the first half of 1971. Then on 9 September, an initial rally was held in Westminster Central Hall
, where the exploitation of sex and violence in the entertainment industry was denounced; the Gay Liberation Front
(GLF) invaded this meeting in drag
, releasing mice, sounding horns, and turning off all the lights.
Around the country more than seventy regional rallies followed. In Bristol
the cathedral was filled to capacity, largely in reaction to the opening of a "sex supermarket
" in the city. A nationwide day of prayer was observed on 19 September. Then on the night of 23 September bonfires and torches were lit on hilltops throughout Britain. In Sheffield a calor gas flare was lit by Cliff Richard. Local authorities were generally co-operative, and individual opposition muted. There were probably about 300 such beacons, and approximately 100,000 people taking part in these local events.
Then on 25 September came the Trafalgar Square rally. By 2.30 pm ten thousand people had assembled, many having travelled by coach from distant parts of the UK. They found a platform and amplifying equipment in place and careful measures for crowd control. More than a dozen speakers took the microphone, among them Malcolm Muggeridge, Bill Davidson of the Salvation Army
, and Mary Whitehouse.
A number of statements and proclamations were read out and received with applause by the crowd, calling passionately for a halt to the commercial exploitation of sex and violence. They warned that the positive values of love and respect for the individual and the family were under serious threat, and that once these were overthrown a safe and stable society could not long survive. They challenged the nation to recover the pure idealism of Christ, the Light of world, who taught that real love always wants what is best for others and defends the weak against exploitation by the corrupt. The speakers were of mixed ages, from many different walks of life. Some of the crowd heckled, but most cheered enthusiastically. Two thirds of those present were aged under twenty-five.
The Hyde Park rally started at 4pm, where a number of Christian music groups proclaimed the same message. Among the performers were Cliff Richard, Dana
and Graham Kendrick
.
Within the movement itself there had always been diverse emphases and agendas. Those involved had frequently asked themselves whether the Festival of Light should have an overtly Christian identity, or alternatively seek a wider constituency embracing all who would oppose "moral pollution". In the event it received support from many who had no initial Christian commitment, and some who were drawn to Christianity through the experience.
There was also uncertainty whether the intention of the organisers was to demand stricter censorship
by law, or to seek a voluntary agreement on standards with the professional regulating bodies in the broadcasting and publishing industries, or simply to persuade individuals and families that they would benefit from opting out of a culture they could not control.
The Festival stimulated inter-denominational contact among evangelical Christians, and is considered to be, along with the Billy Graham
campaigns, the Keswick Convention
, and the university "Christian union
s" a significant expression of twentieth-century evangelical co-operation in the UK. Proponents claim that many Christians were persuaded to shun violent and sexually explicit films, magazines and television programmes, and to prefer newspapers lacking salacious content. For a decade or more, evangelicals generally held to this position.
In the nation as a whole, however, the impact of the Festival was much less evident than its supporters had hoped. A much greater range of explicit material became available in the years which followed. Commercial, political and artistic pressures worked against any attempt at a stricter censorship, either by law or by voluntary agreement.
(TV personality): “This is the age when men with dirty minds and tongues flourish because up till now there has been no militancy against those degenerates who befoul every form of art.”
John Biggs-Davison
(MP
for Chigwell
): “It is not so much a permissive society as a licentious, callous and cruel society… The Christian strives to imitate Christ who calls him to heroic purity.”
Frank Deeks (Dagenham
shop steward): “We ordinary people have allowed, through apathy, our television sets to become sewers… Our churches (and may God forgive them) have often been compromising, hesitant and plain scared to give a lead.”
Trevor Huddleston
(Anglican bishop): “For me the definition of pornography or obscenity is very simple. It is the abuse of what is made in the image and likeness of God for any end whatsoever.”
Salvation Army
petition
demonstrating “the strength of feeling in a large part of society against the commercialisation of sex in ways which ensure financial gain for the exploiters and the creation of false values in the lives of the exploited.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
(journalist): “The purpose of the festival is that… the relatively few people who are responsible for this moral breakdown of our society will know that they are pitted against, not just a few reactionary people, but all the people in this country who still love this Light – the Light of the world.”
Sunday Telegraph
: “In the Festival of Light the silent majority
has found its voice.”
John Capon (newspaper editor): “The Nationwide Festival of Light began, as we have seen, with the vision of one man, who was prepared to act decisively on what he had seen.”
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
movement formed by British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s concerned about the development of the permissive society
Permissive society
The permissive society is a society where social norms are becoming increasingly liberal. This usually accompanies a change in what is considered deviant. While typically preserving the rule "do not harm others", a permissive society would have few other moral codes...
in the UK at the end of the 1960s.
Its leading lights included the clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
, the journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
and a number of leading clergymen. The British pop star Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
was a leading supporter. The movement was opposed to what they saw as the growing trends in the mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
for the explicit depiction of sexual and violent themes. Its culmination was a pair of mass rallies in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
and Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in September 1971.
It encouraged a number of other campaigns on similar themes, including the continuing Festival of Light
Festival of Light Australia
Festival of Light Australia was an Australian ministry promoting Christian family values from 1973 to 2008, when its name was changed to FamilyVoice Australia....
movement in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, although it did not persist as a high-profile campaign in the UK, and the subsequent growth in the availability of sexually explicit and violent material would suggest that it had little effect on the media or on consumers.
History
In November 1970 a young couple, Peter and Janet Hill, returned to England after four years as evangelicalEvangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
Christian missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in India. They were surprised to find a much more permissive society than the one they left.
Hill imagined tens of thousands of young people marching on London to take a stand for Christian moral principles. The idea took root when he heard of 10,000 men engaged in a March of Witness through Blackburn calling for Christian moral standards to be restored to the nation.
Soon Hill was in contact with a wide network of people sharing his concern and offering their encouragement. Among these were Malcolm Muggeridge, Mary Whitehouse, Lord Longford, Bishop Trevor Huddleston
Trevor Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
and Cliff Richard. Grassroots support came from Anglicans, Baptists, Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
and Pentecostal church denominations.
A working committee was established by Hill with Colonel Orde Dobbie (a Social Services administrator), Eddy Stride (a former shop steward and trade unionist, and now a vicar), Gordon Landreth (general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance
Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance is a London-based charitable organization founded in 1846. It has a claimed representation of over 1,000,000 evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom and is the oldest alliance of evangelical Christians in the world....
), Nigel Goodwin (a professional Christian actor) and Steve Stevens (a missionary aviator). Additional input was received from a larger Council of Reference which included well-known politicians, lawyers, doctors, trades unionists, bishops, ministers, and other public figures such as Dora Bryan
Dora Bryan
Dora May Bryan OBE is an English actress of stage, film and television.-Early life:Bryan was born as Dora May Broadbent in Southport, Lancashire, England. Her father was a salesman and she attended Hathershaw County Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire...
and David Kossoff
David Kossoff
David Kossoff was a British actor. Following the death of his son Paul, a rock musician, he became an anti-drug campaigner...
from the acting profession. The name "Nationwide Festival of Light" was suggested by Malcolm Muggeridge, and Prince Charles sent "every good wish for the success of the Festival".
The movement had two expressed aims: to protest against "sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
" in the media and the arts, and to offer the teaching of Christ as the key to recovering moral stability in the nation. Some supporters naturally emphasized the first, and others the second. Plans were made for major public events, including the lighting of beacons on hilltops throughout the United Kingdom, and culminating in a massed march to a public rally in Trafalgar Square and an open-air concert of Christian music in Hyde Park.
The administrative task of enlisting the support of Christian churches and denominations throughout the UK was a colossal one, as indeed was the necessity for public relations with the press and the general public. The committee and many local volunteers were occupied with this throughout the first half of 1971. Then on 9 September, an initial rally was held in Westminster Central Hall
Westminster Central Hall
The Westminster Central Hall or Methodist Central Hall is a Methodist church in the City of Westminster. It occupies the corner of Tothill Street and Storeys Gate just off Victoria Street in London, near the junction with The Sanctuary next to the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and facing...
, where the exploitation of sex and violence in the entertainment industry was denounced; the Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
(GLF) invaded this meeting in drag
UK Gay Liberation Front 1971 Festival of Light action
On the 9th September 1971 the UK Gay Liberation Front undertook an action to disrupt the launch of the Church-based morality campaign, Nationwide Festival of Light at the Methodist Central Hall Westminster...
, releasing mice, sounding horns, and turning off all the lights.
Around the country more than seventy regional rallies followed. In Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
the cathedral was filled to capacity, largely in reaction to the opening of a "sex supermarket
Sex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
" in the city. A nationwide day of prayer was observed on 19 September. Then on the night of 23 September bonfires and torches were lit on hilltops throughout Britain. In Sheffield a calor gas flare was lit by Cliff Richard. Local authorities were generally co-operative, and individual opposition muted. There were probably about 300 such beacons, and approximately 100,000 people taking part in these local events.
Then on 25 September came the Trafalgar Square rally. By 2.30 pm ten thousand people had assembled, many having travelled by coach from distant parts of the UK. They found a platform and amplifying equipment in place and careful measures for crowd control. More than a dozen speakers took the microphone, among them Malcolm Muggeridge, Bill Davidson of the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
, and Mary Whitehouse.
A number of statements and proclamations were read out and received with applause by the crowd, calling passionately for a halt to the commercial exploitation of sex and violence. They warned that the positive values of love and respect for the individual and the family were under serious threat, and that once these were overthrown a safe and stable society could not long survive. They challenged the nation to recover the pure idealism of Christ, the Light of world, who taught that real love always wants what is best for others and defends the weak against exploitation by the corrupt. The speakers were of mixed ages, from many different walks of life. Some of the crowd heckled, but most cheered enthusiastically. Two thirds of those present were aged under twenty-five.
The Hyde Park rally started at 4pm, where a number of Christian music groups proclaimed the same message. Among the performers were Cliff Richard, Dana
Dana Rosemary Scallon
Dana Rosemary Scallon , known in her singing career simply as Dana, is an Irish singer and former Member of the European Parliament ....
and Graham Kendrick
Graham Kendrick
Graham Kendrick is a prolific British Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader. He is the son of a Baptist pastor. He now lives in Croydon and is a former member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship...
.
Response
In the days that followed, newspaper reports were mixed. Perhaps the warmest support came from Roman Catholic periodicals. Vast quantities of mail continued to pour in to the organisers' office, but once they had recovered from the extraordinary and exhausting effort entailed in the public events, there seemed a large measure of uncertainty about the next stage, if any.Within the movement itself there had always been diverse emphases and agendas. Those involved had frequently asked themselves whether the Festival of Light should have an overtly Christian identity, or alternatively seek a wider constituency embracing all who would oppose "moral pollution". In the event it received support from many who had no initial Christian commitment, and some who were drawn to Christianity through the experience.
There was also uncertainty whether the intention of the organisers was to demand stricter censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
by law, or to seek a voluntary agreement on standards with the professional regulating bodies in the broadcasting and publishing industries, or simply to persuade individuals and families that they would benefit from opting out of a culture they could not control.
The Festival stimulated inter-denominational contact among evangelical Christians, and is considered to be, along with the Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
campaigns, the Keswick Convention
Keswick Convention
The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of evangelical Christians in Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria.- History :The Keswick Convention began in 1875 as a catalyst and focal point for the emerging Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom. It was founded by an Anglican, Canon T. D....
, and the university "Christian union
Christian Union (students)
Christian Unions are evangelical Christian student groups. They exist in many countries and are often affiliated with either International Fellowship of Evangelical Students or Campus Crusade for Christ. Many Christian Unions are one of the societies affiliated to their universities' students'...
s" a significant expression of twentieth-century evangelical co-operation in the UK. Proponents claim that many Christians were persuaded to shun violent and sexually explicit films, magazines and television programmes, and to prefer newspapers lacking salacious content. For a decade or more, evangelicals generally held to this position.
In the nation as a whole, however, the impact of the Festival was much less evident than its supporters had hoped. A much greater range of explicit material became available in the years which followed. Commercial, political and artistic pressures worked against any attempt at a stricter censorship, either by law or by voluntary agreement.
Quotations from some leaders of the movement
Bob Danvers-WalkerBob Danvers-Walker
Cyril Frederick 'Bob' Danvers-Walker was an English radio and newsreel announcer best known for his broadcasts on Pathé News cinema newsreels during World War II....
(TV personality): “This is the age when men with dirty minds and tongues flourish because up till now there has been no militancy against those degenerates who befoul every form of art.”
John Biggs-Davison
John Biggs-Davison
Sir John Alec Biggs-Davison was a Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Chigwell from 1955 and then, after boundary changes in 1974, Epping Forest until his death. He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club.-Early years:The son of Major John Norman Biggs-Davison,...
(MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Chigwell
Chigwell
Chigwell is a civil parish and town in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located 11.6 miles north east of Charing Cross. It is served by two London Underground stations and has a London area code.-Etymology:According to P. H...
): “It is not so much a permissive society as a licentious, callous and cruel society… The Christian strives to imitate Christ who calls him to heroic purity.”
Frank Deeks (Dagenham
Dagenham
Dagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...
shop steward): “We ordinary people have allowed, through apathy, our television sets to become sewers… Our churches (and may God forgive them) have often been compromising, hesitant and plain scared to give a lead.”
Trevor Huddleston
Trevor Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
(Anglican bishop): “For me the definition of pornography or obscenity is very simple. It is the abuse of what is made in the image and likeness of God for any end whatsoever.”
Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
demonstrating “the strength of feeling in a large part of society against the commercialisation of sex in ways which ensure financial gain for the exploiters and the creation of false values in the lives of the exploited.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
Malcolm Muggeridge
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
(journalist): “The purpose of the festival is that… the relatively few people who are responsible for this moral breakdown of our society will know that they are pitted against, not just a few reactionary people, but all the people in this country who still love this Light – the Light of the world.”
Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
: “In the Festival of Light the silent majority
Silent majority
The silent majority is an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. The term was popularized by U.S...
has found its voice.”
John Capon (newspaper editor): “The Nationwide Festival of Light began, as we have seen, with the vision of one man, who was prepared to act decisively on what he had seen.”
Later developments
After 1971 the NFL committee continued to meet and gradually evolved into the Christian organization Christian Action Research and Education (CARE). The high-profile confrontational style of the original Festival gave way to a more discreet range of initiatives assisting individuals who have suffered the consequences of moral and social breakdown in British society, and encouraging a measure of political engagement on some issues.External links
- http://www.care.org.uk/about/our-story
- http://christian.org.uk/pdfpublications/raymond_johnston.htm