Pulpit-bashing of Santa Claus an attack on the spirit of Christmas

YOU would imagine that the Church of England has enough to contend with than trying to knock Santa off his sleigh.

That is the latest heresy - and heresy it is - which has rocked this bastion of the Establishment.

When the Rev. Lee Rayfield, vicar of St. Peter’s, near Maidenhead, Berkshire, denounced Santa Claus from the pulpit, one almost expected a statement from the Palace, because as head of that church, the queen, presumably, was not amused.