TWO shopping incidents rammed home the message for a top clergyman of just how far Britain has moved away from the true meaning of Christmas.

When the Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Methuen, asked to see crosses on chains for a family gift, the assistant asked if he wanted a plain cross "or one with the little man on?"

And when his wife, Bridget, went into a store and asked for "real" Christmas cards, the shop worker asked: "Oh, you mean ones with robins and holly on?"

Mr Methuen has penned the pre-Christmas family shopping incidents in Ripon Cathedral's December magazine "just to illustrate how far Britain has moved away from the Christian faith and traditions, which are the sole source for the festivals of Christmas and Easter."

He says he is not prepared to accept that Western culture is rediscovering its pagan roots, getting back to yule, mistletoe, the Druids and the spirituality inhabiting rocks, stones and trees.

He writes: "Britain was a Christian country long before Woden, Thor, Freya and all the rest of the Teutonic gods imported in the sixth and seventh centuries.

"And anyway, those who advocate neo-paganism have an incurably romantic notion of what Christianity was confronting. They do not dwell on the dark side of paganism, the violence, the blood-letting, the animal and indeed human sacrifice, the fear of diabolical agents, demons and evil spirits and the fundamental anxiety about the relationships between the creation and the creator."

While our spiritual ancestors expected a military leader they got a crying infant, he says, adding: "They expected a king who would throw out all foreigners and make the people of God a top nation. But when the crunch came they nailed the King to a cross."