The Dean of Blackburn, the Very Reverend Christopher Armstrong, wants non-Christian Christmas stamps to be stamped out as part of a "unique Christian-Muslim protest."

He is urging the public to take the issue to Parliament by contacting their elected representatives. He said: "Please write to your local MP and ask him or her to establish who made the set of decisions that led to this year's secular-religious issue of Christmas seasonal stamps.

And please ask your MP to find out who is to be held publicly accountable for the lack of communication around the existence of a choice."

His calls came following an open letter published in The Independent newspaper featuring the signatures of Blackburn Cathedral's Canon Chris Chivers and the cathedral's dialogue development officer Anjum Anwar, the only Muslim in the world who works for a cathedral. The letter condemned as "utterly demeaning" the "free market choice" of being offered Christian or secular stamps by the Royal Mail for Christmas.

They wrote: "If we are to have Christmas stamps at all, let them be Christian.

"But if for some mindlessly secularist reason we must have a choice, then let there be stamps of both sorts, in equal number."

The church says the Royal Mail has re-issued two Christian stamps used last year but is claims this is a "shabby compromise" with post offices failing to offer customers choice in which Christmas stamps to buy.

A church spokesman said: "Phone calls to six Lancashire post offices revealed counter staff simply sold the next stamp to hand and did not offer customers choice."

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: "Tens of millions of both types of special Christmas stamps have been distributed across the Post Office network so that our customers can choose between the popular Madonna and Child stamps, first issued last year, or the Pantomime set."

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