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A FAST food chain yesterday admitted it was overzealous in its pursuit of political correctness when it banned one of its Sydney stores from displaying a traditional Christmas nativity scene.
Last Thursday, Westfield Hornsby Oporto franchise owner Charlie Saliba was told to remove his nativity scene - depicting baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men and a shepherd - for fear it would offend non-Christian customers.
Mr Saliba, a Catholic, said: "I am Maltese and we are very much into our Christmas decorations ... they told me take it down and I thought it was a shame because, without a nativity scene, it's not Christmas.
"I've been putting the nativity scene up for the past 3 1/2 years and have not had one complaint. I have had a lot of compliments."
Oporto chief executive Jeff Fisher had previously told The Daily Telegraph the chain supported generic decorations over nativity scenes because Australia was a multicultural society and it would be wrong to push any one religious belief.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11552235%255E13762,00.html