A call from a small number of religious groups in Australia for Christmas to renamed or toned down has sparked anger among Christian churches, organisations and civil leaders.

|TOP|The Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations has called for a community debate to find an alternative to Christmas, in which it suggests the word ‘festive’ as a possible replacement, reports Australia’s Sunday Mail.

A Jewish leader from Queensland also made the call for an end to what he called the “automatic imposition” of Christmas on the community, saying the season had been reduced to a “shopping festival”.

The director of the Islamic-relations forum, Kuranda Seyit, told Australia’s The Sunday Mail it was time for Australia to follow the likes of the UK, where some councils have taken to renaming Christmas and replacing references to Christmas on signage with the words "Festive" and "Winter".

"Australia is now so diverse and there are so many cultures and festivities, we need to acknowledge the need to be inclusive of our identity," said Seyit.

He expected his plan would insult some people, but urged a "step-by-step" approach.

"A word like Festive is a good word but the community should make an effort to come up with an alternative to Christmas. Schools will take a leading role in terms of political correctness. The younger generation will grow up and say 'it's not fair'."

|AD|Queensland's Jewish Board of Deputies president David Paratz said the extent of Christmas celebrations and partying had got out of hand – as had the commercialism surrounding the festival. Christmas was considered just a "shopping festival" by many people, he said.

"It can't be assumed everyone is a Christian. People should not be faced with the automatic imposition of Christmas."

But the call for the removal of Christmas has been met with outcry among the Christian community, with Muslim groups also voicing their disapproval of the proposal.

The president of the Islamic Council of Queensland, Abdul Jalal, said Muslims have “no right” to question what Christians called their religious festival, reports the newspaper.

Australian Premier Peter Beattie said that Christmas was an important celebration that should “stay put”, adding that Christians “should be able to celebrate the festivities as Christmas”.

The Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Phillip Aspinall, said Christmas should continue to be celebrated as a “very important” date on the Christian calendar.

Glenine Hamlyn of Queensland Churches Together, which represents 11 denominations including Catholic, Anglican and Uniting churches, said: "Taking up Abdul Jalal’s comment, I would also stress that it would be absurd for Christians to call for any religious festival of another religion (e.g. the Muslim festival of Ramadan)to be renamed.”

President of the Family Council of Queensland, Alan Baker, criticised the plans as “impertinent and intolerant”.

He said: “No one is suggesting that other religions change the name of their celebrations, such as Ramadan for Muslims or Hanukkah for Jews.”