Christmas carols are being altered to be politically correct

London, Dec 13 (ANI): Many churches are making changes to the original Christmas carols and even removing words like "king", "son" and "virgin", to make them politically correct, say reports.

Songs like 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' and 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' are being altered by the clergy in order to make them more "modern and inclusive".

But churchgoers, who complain that the result will be a "festive car crash", as not everyone will be singing from the same hymn sheet, are not in favour of the change.

News of the change comes only a day after a Church of England vicar banned his congregation from singing 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', the reason being that the song does not reflect the modern day plight of its inhabitants.

Other changes included a clergyman rewriting the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' to include Aids victims, drug addicts and hoodies, and removal of the word "virgin" from 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen'.

Christian website 'Ship of Fools' is running a competition to find the worst example of a rewritten carol.

"It's a festive car crash," the Telegraph quoted Steve Goddard, co-editor of the website as saying.

"Half the congregation sing familiar words from memory, while the rest stumble over revised alternatives. Our readers are telling us straight - for some new versions there should be no room at the inn," he stated.

The altered carols, which can be viewed on the website, show the line "Glory to the newborn King" from the hymn 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' replaced by "Glory to the Christ child, bring".

The hymn 'O Come All Ye Faithful' has its refrain changed from "O come let us adore Him" to "O come in adoration", the reason given is that the original text sounded sexist.

"(One reader) wrote in asking if the original line was considered too gender-specific," Goddard said.

"But as he rightly pointed out, Jesus wasn't hermaphrodite, neither was he a girl," he added.

The altering of lines from the original to make it politically correct saw churchgoers being told not to sing the words "all in white" during 'Once in Royal David's City' in case they appeared racist. (ANI)