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Sunday, December 04, 2005

Target Boycotted over "Christmas"

Do you care about Christmas? I don’t mean the national holiday that falls on December 25th. I mean, do you care about the fact that those, like the ACLU, who have tried to remove Christian symbols from the national consciousness, have forced the word “Christmas” into a ghetto?

Going out to buy Christmas cards? There are many more “holiday” cards, or “season’s greetings” cards. Have you, yourself, become sensitive to the way you greet people around this time of year; wondering if you should say “Merry Christmas” or Happy Holidays?”

At some point, people who are feeling oppressed start to fight back. Even the Jews had their Warsaw Ghetto uprising. And when that oppressed group represents over 80% of a country’s population, the reaction can be dramatic.

The American Family Association headed by Don Wildmon has announced that they will encourage people to avoid shopping at Target stores because of their policy regarding Christmas. Click HERE for the full story.

The issue is whether retailers who make a very, very significant portion of their annual profits during the Christmas season, have increasingly removed “Christmas” from their greetings, their advertisements and their in-store displays. Instead, there is a generic reference to the “season” or an (unspecified) “holiday.”

As a result of complaints from Christians, some companies have changed their minds. Dr. James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, …said in each of the instances where companies have changed their minds, it was due in large part to customers who spoke up about the issue. “You can have an influence on this policy," he said, "but not if you just 'take it' — not if you just sit around."

I can understand that some of you may not care. And some would rather not raise the issue. Jonah Goldberg has a good article about it in RN Online.

But as for me, even though this is the season when the Prince of Peace’s birth is celebrated, the concept of Christmas is one that I will fight for … but in a peaceful way.

Merry Christmas.

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