The Bishop of Burnley has hit out at the absence of religion from this year's Christmas cards.

The Rt Rev John Goddard slammed the trend for robins, holly, snow scenes and abstract designs on cards with no Christian messages for the festive season, describing it as "ignorance" rather than political correctness and the result of "aggressive secularism."

Bishop Goddard said he had struggled himself to find any religious cards.

"When I went out to buy Christmas cards in Burnley, many of the shops I went into were not selling any traditional Nativity-scene cards. The only places I found them were the Oxfam and Marie Curie charity shops.

"I know that this is going on all over the country, not just in Burnley, and I think it's very sad.

"Christmas is about the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not being able to send a card with a Madonna and child or shepherds at the manger scene, to me is a great sadness, and also makes Christmas effectively meaningless."

One Haslingden retailer said that she had seen demand go steadily down for the traditional cards in the six years she has run her shop.

Sue Prew, owner of Greetings, Deardengate, said: "Some people do still want them, particularly older people, so we do stock a few but not many.

"Even if we wanted to get more, the suppliers have stopped getting them so there aren't that many around any more."

And owner of Every Occasion in Market Street Colne, Andrew Reed, said: "As Christians we have to bring in supplies of religious cards from the United States becuase there are so few compnaies over here which market them. Over the last ten years or so we have seen a decline in the supply, but customers still come in asking for religious cards."

Bishop John added: "Secondly, there are some people who are saying all Christian themes are being taken out to avoid offending people of other faiths. I do a great deal of work with members of other faiths, and it's total nonsense. We live in a tolerant nation where we seek to respect other beliefs.

"My Muslim friends cannot understand why people have this attitude - I celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, but Islam also celebrates it as the birth of Jesus the Prophet, they're not offended by it at all.

"It's wrong that Muslims are getting blamed by some for this political correctness', but it is isn't political correctness - which I support - it's ignorance."

The Bishop's comments follow those made by the Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Revd David Gillett, who recently spoke out in strong support of keeping Christmas a Christian festival, in the wake of many councils in the country "secularising" it to avoid offending modern multi-cultural society. Birmingham City Council, for example, came under fire recently for using the word Winterval instead of Christmas.

Bishop John added: "I feel very strongly about the fact that we are minimising and marginalising the Christian faith, as it is still important to a great number of people in this country.

"More importantly, it belittles the vital part Christianity has played in our country's heritage, which was built upon the faith.

"This aggressive secularism threatens to dismantle that foundation, at the peril of this nation's stability."

The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Nicholas Reade said: "I agree wholeheartedly with the comments made last week by the Archbishop of York, that the illiberal and aggrieved secularists are trying to create a ludicrous system where those who don't believe in God dictate that a Christian festival is offending other faiths.

"Other faith communities have stated categorically that they are not offended by Christmas and they know that if Christmas goes it will be their festivals next.

"It's not possible to enter into the true meaning of Christmas by leaving out Jesus Christ. It's ridiculous to exclude the person who is at the cente of the celebration. It's like having a birthday party with all the guests turning up and giving each other presents, but forgetting why they came and excluding the birthday child."

A spokesperson for WHSmiths said: ""The range in all our stores includes both traditional and modern designs and we do have nativity scenes on cards and calendars.

"The range reflects what's popular with customers. It may be that if people have been to the store and not seen them, that they've all been sold."

Nobody was available for comment from Clinton Cards, Card Warehouse or Marks and Spencers.