A Pre-emptive Strike In The Christmas War: American Family's List Of "Anti-Christmas" Companies

Banana Republic is doomed. So is The Gap, L.L. Bean, Foot Looker, Office Depot, Old Navy, Radio Shack, Barnes & Noble and... Victoria's Secret!! They're all doomed to perdition by the American Family Association (spearheaded, of course, by the ever-righteous Bryan Fischer) because they've been deemed to be AGAINST "Christmas." (Their emphasis, not mine)

The AFA hardly waited until the first "Happy Holidays" after Thanksgiving was uttered to deem these retailers unfit to carry the "true" Christmas spirit. Like some angry neighbor in a property dispute, it has fired a warning shot over an imaginary fence, telling people that their wrath will be appeased sooner or later. Their "criteria" for "good"  "marginal" and "bad" retailers is supposedly based on "print media (newspaper inserts), broadcast media (radio/television), website and/or personal visits to the store." But a closer examination to the "naughty" list produces another criteria: "gay friendly." 

For example, Old Navy launched a "gay-friendly" line of clothing for Gay Pride and teamed up with It Gets Better for a t-shirt promotion. Banana Republic and The Gap (all owned by Gap, Inc.) are all considered to be "gay friendly." So is Barnes and Noble. And we all know what Bryan Fischer thinks of Home Depot ("Homo Depot"). And with the exception of Walgreens, Best Buy and Macy's, the "nice" retailers aren't too overtly pro-gay. If they were, they wouldn't be given the Bryan Fischer/AFA stamp of Christmas approval.

So if you're gay-friendly and don't say "Merry Christmas" in your ads and to every man, woman, child, dog and cockroach that comes into the store, you're going to hell. Well, maybe YOU won't go to hell, but your company will, because the tone of the AFA's ongoing articles on the subject is a loud whisper: "boycott."

On the other hand, maybe you WILL go to hell... after standing in the unemployment line.

Who will be on THE LIST in any of the three columns is anyone's guess - depending upon who encounters "friendly" or "unfriendly" retailers and reports them to the AFA. Will the Scottsdale Gun Club be on it? Hard to say since it depends on who the guns are pointed at when they say "Merry Christmas."

OWNING CHRISTMAS

Each year, the "War on Christmas" brings up one salient point: who owns Christmas? The Christian Right hammers away at the CHRIST part of the holiday name as proof that they and only they can lay claim to it. And any misuse or omission is a sign of sacrilege or worse ... persecution. There will be a three-part series on the subject for OpEdNews readers within the coming weeks, but for now, we can safely say that the Christian Right refuses to regard the Spirit of Christmas as transcending the holiday: Christmas, in all its goodness and holiness and charity is theirs and theirs alone. Righteous arrogance rears its ugly head during the season, overshadowing the essence of humanity that the season tries to embody.

And speaking of bodies...Victoria's Secret DOES mention Christmas in its ad - just not in the convention way that Bryan Fischer wants (see below) because it also says Happy Hannukah and Kwanza and all those other sacrilegious things that the AFA doesn't want you to know about. 

While the link to the list is HERE, it's just too good to pass up reprinting it along with this article.

Here is the actual list updated as of 11/30 (from the AFA website)

AFA's 2011 listing of top retailers and how they recognize Christmas

Companies FOR "Christmas" (Green)

 1  |  2