AFA and Christmas

[rlrose328]

Here is an email that was sent by the AFA to their mailing list.  A similar one was sent regarding PetSmart (as I said in a different thread).

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Christmas: Kohl's Takes In-Your-Face Attitude

Dear [subscriber name deleted],

Kohl's is taking a misleading, in-your-face attitude when it comes to Christmas.

Last year, thousands of individuals asked Kohl's to include Christmas in their in-store promotions and media advertising. The company promised they would. However, in researching their in-store promotions and advertising this year, the company has ignored that promise.

Under their online FAQ section, Kohl's says Christmas "will be featured in print, TV, and radio throughout the season." This is misleading. When AFA contacted Kohl's we were told only that the word Christmas will be featured "in 6 of our flyers between mid-November and New Year's Day." They made no mention of using Christmas in radio or TV spots or in-store promotions, as they had promised. This is misleading.

Following their usual pattern, Kohl's will distribute 18 flyers during that time period. That means they will use Christmas in only one-third of their flyers. To date, Kohl's has distributed four of the flyers with 62 uses of "holiday" and ZERO uses of "Christmas." Kohl's has misled the public.

Under a hard to find "Christmas promotions" category on their Web site, Kohl's doesn't include a single use of Christmas. Why would Kohl's ban Christmas? The obvious answer is they don't want to offend non-Christians.

With the exception of a handful of trinkets associated with Christmas by their manufacturer, Kohl's has misled the public and effectively banned Christmas.

At the time this is being mailed, Christmas is not mentioned on Kohl's home page. We expect the company will put the word Christmas on their home page as soon as they begin hearing from you. Then they can point you to their home page to prove they are not banning Christmas. Should they do that, it will again be misleading.

Thank you for caring enough to get involved. If you feel our efforts are worthy of support, would you consider making a small tax-deductible contribution? Click here to make a donation.  
 
Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association  

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In other words, "You WILL observe our religious holiday or we'll MAKE you observe it."  

And they're wanting to execute a teacher in Sudan for letting her class name the class teddy bear Mohammad.  And I'm sure the American Christians are appalled by that... but I see that in our future.  It's a slippery slope here.  I know... I'm comparing having Christmas in an ad with a person being executed... it's a big stretch, there is a correlation that I don't think people see.  She's being tried with insulting religion.  Mr. Wildmon's letter is stating that this store is insulting his religion because they are using holiday rather than Christmas.  

It's scary how the American Christians don't see how like Islam they truly are.

[SteveS]

I have three observations:

1) Kohl's is not insulting the Christian religion, they are just not specifically catering to it - they are not specifically appealing to it.  This is their rightful business decision (and business risk).

2) If Kohl's did use the word 'Christmas', I would have no problem with this, as they would have every right to sell things to Christians, marketed for Christians.  I don't see how this would be illegal in any way - in a country with freedom of religion I don't see why a store would not be allowed to cater to specific religions.  Likewise, of course, they could sell things targeted for other religions as well.  The separation of Church and State does not imply a separation of Church and Commerce.

3) The simple problem with finding a non-Christian term for the holiday season 'insulting to religion' is that if they did use 'Christmas', could not the Islamics make a legitimate claim that the store is insulting their religion?  Since this country requires freedom of religion, this situation would be untenable.  The only logical conclusion is that a store must be able to appeal to, or not appeal to, any of the religions in the land.  Nobody can justifiably claim insult to the inclusion or exclusion of religious words, products, etc. in any particular store.  This includes atheism - I could justifiably claim that the 10 commandment should not appear in a courthouse, but I cannot justify a claim that they should not appear in a store.

[Will]

I'm confused by something. The acronym for "We're All Idiots" isn't AFA, it's WAI. Maybe it's not as catchy...