Only one in a hundred Christmas cards sold in British High Street stores feature the birth of Jesus, according to 
new market research, prompting accusations that retailers are “airbrushing” Christianity out of Christmas.
Out of almost 6,000 types of Christmas card on sale in supermarkets, card shops and convenience stores sampled, only 34 featured nativity scenes, the Daily Telegraph reports.
When cards with other vaguely religious images, such as choirs or church pews, on the front were included, the total rose to only two per cent.
Some shops had no Christian-themed cards at all on sale while others had only a handful, with the rest dominated by images of Father Christmas, snowmen or Christmas trees.
A team of mystery shoppers from Nielsen brand auditors visited the card aisles in branches of supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrison, as well as smaller card shops for a study commissioned by The Bible Society.
Overall they sampled 5,706 designs, of which only 34 had nativity scenes on the front. Overall there were just 66 designs which could be classed as religious, including in boxed sets.
The report concluded that cards depicting the Christmas story appeared to be disappearing from the High Street.
Ann Holt, a director at the Bible Society, said: “Do we really want to see Christ being airbrushed out of Christmas, the festival of his own birth.
“People love the Christmas story – it stays with us precisely because it is visible and popular. So how come it’s so hard to find a picture of it in the shops?’
“If you’ve got a home where you have pictures of the nativity around for three or four weeks of the year – particularly if you’ve got a home with children, its gives you a fantastic opportunity to tell that story and so pass it on – and people do.”
Danny Webster from the Evangelical Alliance said: “Taking Christ out of Christmas is becoming all too commonplace.
“Cards that ignore the basis of the Christmas story encourage us to have peace without the prince of peace and joy without the giver of joy.”