DENVER -- It's one of Denver's most colorful holiday traditions -- the lighting of the Denver City and County Building and the parade of lights downtown. But now two decisions about those events are making church groups see red.

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Church Group Banned From Holiday Parade

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper recently announced that next year the phrase "Merry Christmas" will be removed from the city building and replaced with "Happy Holidays."

And now a church group who wants to march in the Parade of Lights and sing Christmas carols will not be allowed to participate in the parade. Organizers say the parade is about the holidays, not Christmas, but leaders of the Faith Bible Chapel say that's ridiculous.

"We can't pretend that Christ didn't exist and Christmas wasn't about his birthday, so we felt we could sing it and apparently that is not in social vogue anymore," said Pastor Gary Beasley, with the Faith Bible Chapel.

"Our policy, which we have applied consistently for years, is to not include religious or political messages in the parade --in the interest of not excluding any group," said Jim Basey, the president of the Downtown Denver Partnership.

Susan Rogers, with the partnership said no that overtly religious symbols are allowed in the parade and that means participants can't carry "Merry Christmas" signs and can't sing traditional Christmas hymns. However Basey seemed to contradict her in a later statement when he said, "The parade includes performances of Christmas songs, and parade participants saying 'Merry Christmas,' 'Happy Hanukkah,' and other holiday greetings."

In the 30 years that it's been held, there has been an occasional Christmas element to the parade, such as marching bands playing Christmas songs, and several years ago a large balloon in the parade read "Merry Christmas." In 1987, even Mayor Federico Pena greeted the city with "Merry Christmas!" during the parade.

But last spring when the Faith Bible Chapel asked to be a part of the parade, offering to sponsor or build their own float and sing carols, organizers said no because it would be offensive.

"We try to be sensitive to the fact that we are a very diverse community and a very diverse world," said Rogers. She said this is a holiday parade, not specifically a Christmas parade, and it's occuring during a season when many other cultures are celebrating other holidays as well.

But Beasley doesn't see this reaction as being tolerant of other religions, but being intolerant of Christianity. He said his large evangelical organization is being excluded from a major downtown celebration.

"We're singing Christmas carols. It's Christmas time, people have been singing Christmas carols for hundreds of years in America," Beasley said, sounding exasperated.

The Arvada church group said since it cannot be in the parade, it will march one hour before this weekend's Parade of Lights, pass out hot chocolate and sing Christmas carols. Beasley said many other church groups plan to join the peaceful protest.

Basey said, "A core principle of downtown Denver is that downtown is for everyone, and the Parade and holiday season is a time when we all celebrate together as a community. We look forward to a successful parade this year, and we hope to see you there."