Fresh off its apparent victory to put the “Christmas” back into Dick’s, the not at all crazy people at the American Family Association have re-focused their laser beams on JPMorgan Chase. Not because it’s a big bank who was recently sued for its alleged part in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme, but because they don’t want Christmas trees in the lobby.
The AFA claims that all Chase branches have been given company-approved holiday decorations and ordered to remove any other holiday decor.
According to an AFA press release, internal Chase documents state that “We don’t want to lose somebody’s business because of seasonal decorations,” and that they want to “ensure that everyone who visits our branches is made to feel completely welcome and comfortable.”
Perfectly sane AFA president Tim Wildmon says:
This is an absurd policy… The most welcoming, inclusive thing you can do this time of year is wish people a merry Christmas.
In fact, Chase’s policy will actually be offensive to many people who bank there. When customers find out that Chase is deliberating disregarding Christmas, they may just be inclined to take their banking business to a Christmas-friendly institution. Christmas is a holiday we’ve set aside as a nation to honor the birth of Christ because of his impact on American and world history. It’s just bad business for any company to show this kind of disregard for our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Yes, because the first thing Christians should be concerned about when celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ (who was a huge fan of bankers, if I remember my catechism correctly) is interest-earning checking accounts and 3-month CDs.
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“The most welcoming, inclusive thing you can do this time of year is wish people a merry Christmas. “
Really? Wishing a merry “birth of Christ” to people that don’t believe in Christ is inclusive? Who the hell are these nutjobs?
Well said.
I wondered last week when they were bitching about Dick’s, why do they WANT to commercialize Christmas? No doubt, the real meaning of behind the holidays is lost to most people, but for it to be lost on a religious organization is really disheartening.
I would say 90+ percent of people do not equate birth of christ with christmas. They equate “getting stuff you want but do not need” with christmas.
They’re right. Whether you say “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” “Happy Hanukkah,” or whatever, that is a welcoming, inclusive thing. If someone saying “Merry Christmas” offends you, you’re just as insane as the people who get offended over “Happy Holidays.”
Spoken like a true Christian.
Atheist, actually. Nice to meet you, too.
Atheists are often some of the better Christians.
It’s the lack of dogma, I think.
I would like to chime in that I also agree with this sentiment (I am a Buddhist). I do not care whether it is your choice to say Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, Blessed Yule, Fruitful Kwanzaa, or a similarly positive greeting centred around Ramadan, the solstice or Festivus. The name and intent of the holiday is of no importance. The importance comes from the fact that someone is making a well-intentioned statement of well wishes. We should retrieve the manners our parents taught us from the dumpster that we seem to leave them in every December, accept these greetings in the spirit they are intended, say “Thank you,” return the greeting in kind, and move on.
Attachment to the idea that our choice of winter soltice holiday is the only one that won’t offend us is only causing suffering in the world. Be a human being and mind your manners.
+1000
I’m Jewish by birth, raised in a very secular household who had a Christmas tree, lit candles on the menorah, hid Easter eggs, etc. Heck, quite a few years, we put a Star of David as our Christmas tree topper and dubbed it our “Hanukkah bush”. Now that I’m an adult I’m agnostic by choice and strongly dislike Christians like these AFA nutjobs, in fact, I’ve been known to say that I think most organised religions are no better than cults.
That being said – when someone wishes me a “Merry Christmas” or tells me that “I’m in their prayers” if I’m going through a rough time, I don’t get offended because I don’t believe in Christ or their God. I do what I was taught by my parents to do when given a gift (even if it’s just a gift of words): I say a sincere “Thank you” and respond in kind if appropriate.
Sure, I could choose to get offended, but why would I? The hypothetical well-wisher in the previous paragraph wasn’t meaning to offend, but was trying to be nice to another human being without expecting or asking anything in return. It would be incredibly churlish to be offended.
Likewise, if you are one of these AFA nut-job-type Christians, you need to realise that no one is purposefully trying to take your faith away from you by wishing you a “Happy Holidays”. Just stuff your ridiculous sensibilities in a sock, say “thank you” and reply with a “Merry Christmas”. I promise not to get offended.
I’m Jewish, and I agree. I’d rather have someone wish me a “Merry Christmas” than nothing at all.
What’s even more fun is that is IS ACTUALLY CHANNUKAH. RIGHT NOW. So… they’re mad at Chase for including Christians during a Jewish holiday, not the other way around.
(to reiterate what I said elsewhere: A bank deciding to put up Christmas trees is not offensive… But a bank deciding to put up seasonal holiday decorations is ALSO not offensive. In conclusion, I’m sick of ending up a misanthrope by the end of December every single year)
We’re talking about the AFA here. These are people who are eventually going to be complaining when Hebrew bookstores don’t have Christmas trees in the window.
Fuck you. I’m Jewish. Who is this “Christmas” person and why should I marry her?
Honestly – Christmas isn’t the only holiday at this time of the year, besides that, there’s Chanukkah, Kwanzza, and something Muslim I believe (sorry I forgot) – but pretending that everyone’s christian is bogus.
Especially when you consider that the holiday got moved to december (to coincide with the winter solstice I believe) – it was originally in January…
The US goes ape shit for this holiday – and I don’t know why. All I do know is that enough is enough. Say “Happy Holidays” and I’m good with it. I don’t need to see an xmas tree, or menorah, or whatever everywhere…it’s not too green to grow, cut down, and throw out millions of trees each year…
Tell these groups (PETA, and what not) to go home and STFU
Many people who celebrate Kwanzaa also celebrate Christmas. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Not to be That Guy, but I’m gonna be…Christmas trees are a farmed crop. And in many areas these days the expired ones are chipped for mulch, sunk in lakes or ponds as fish habitat, tossed in the woods to give critters cover, etc. In other words, pretty damned green.
Ramadan (and Eid ul-Fitr) sometimes falls at this time of year, but not always. The lunar calendar causes it to shift by about 11 days annually compared to the solar calendar.
Christmas is the day of December 25 – so wouldn’t wishing people a Merry Christmas before the 25th just be plain wrong?
We complain about Christmas Creep, but Wildmon wants more of it. (BTW, I’m atheist, but don’t mind the huge wreath my building puts in the lobby – it smells nice and is festive.)
Well duh, wreaths and trees are traditions that date back before Christianity by a wide margin.
The ancient Celts celebrated the winter solstice in a way strikingly similar to Christmas.
They’re nutjobs who just completely make stuff up, like this:
“Christmas is a holiday we’ve set aside as a nation to honor the birth of Christ because of his impact on American and world history.”
Our nation was founded on the notion that we would not, as a nation, honor any religious figures. But just for fun, even if we did, Christ is not important *because of his impact on American and world history*!! OMG, what? Are these tools at AFA even Christian? What Christian is so brain dead about why Christians like Christ? I think the pope is probably also Christian because of Christ’s impact on America. And Joan of Arc. And Moses. And Snoopy.
What does Christmas trees in a bank have anything to do with American families?
Nothing!!! AFA are just jerks.
+1
+1
I love going up to people like this and saying happy winter solstice and merry met.
Happy Festivus!
And Chase is deliberately disregarding you as well!! You just may be inclined to take your banking business to a solstice-friendly institution, such as Bank of Innis-nan-Druidanach or JPMorwen Celt.
Hardly. Pine trees make more sense as a pagan symbol than a Christian one- the AFA, by demanding trees, is just supporting proper solstice recognition.
Hardly “hardly”! In Chase there’s nary a pine tree, mistletoe sprig, golden sickle, cauldron, torc, or antlered priest to be found anywhere. It’s like they’re totally ignorant of America’s proud Gaulo-Celtic heritage!
Really now? Because Christians own this holiday, and holiday season, and don’t acknowledge the other 4 or so holidays that occur during this time. So to be inclusive = being offense.
Eff off and grow some common sense, AFA.
[Sarcasm]Yup. Hannukah, meh – that was the old religion of Jesus. Who cares about that anymore.
I think it is obvious. AFA believes that only Christians are allowed to reproduce and have families.
[/sarcasm]
Seriously. I agree. None of these places are actively saying Christians should not celebrate. They are saying that other religions exist. Why not celebrate all of them at once?
AFA should put their resources to actual good use. Like helping out families in trouble instead of spending lots of money and resources annoying banks with no trees in their lobby.
I think it’s more that AFA believes only Christians are “real” Americans. Thus, only Christians can have “American Families”
“AFA should put their resources to actual good use. Like helping out families in trouble instead of spending lots of money and resources annoying banks with no trees in their lobby. “
+10,000
(And besides, Christmas trees came from pagan tradition, so aren’t actually all that Christian. Also, the whole “kill a conifer for Christ” thing isn’t exactly great for the environment.)
It’s a whole holiday season – from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. (Include Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in it as well…)
To me, the Super Bowl is a bigger holiday than Christmas – that shows what is most important to be on Sundays…
Actually, it runs to the Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas) as well. Many Latin cultures celebrate 3 Kings Day (including Puerto Rico) as a bigger day than Xmas.
Four?
I have a list of a dozen on my desk right now that I just used in a Toastmasters speech: Christmas, Hanukkah, Bodhi Day, Saturnalia, Yule, Diwali, Eid-ul-Adha, HumanLight, Kwanzaa, Zamenhof Day, Die Natalis Solis Invicti and Festivus.
There were at least two dozen more where I found these.
This is the sorta thing that really gets my goat, so I guess I’ll be sacrificing it this year for the winter solstice.
If Chase would do likewise, perhaps I’ll stick with them and the 28.9% interest credit card they want me to use.
I see what you did there.
I worked in a bank years ago and it was unbelievable what people would complain about. I heard everything from Christmas trees should not be near menorahs to trees are not religious symbols so if you have a menorah there should be a manger too. Banks don’t want to deal with these headaches from people. At the JPM headquarters on Park Ave they have a huge tree in the lobby so this must be just for branches.
No pun intended?
We had many people complain because we allow dogs in our bank. NOT because they had a bad experience.. just because someone MIGHT be allergic or something and apparently will just die of anaphylactic shock from being in a large building with one dog.
So, AFA is concerned that Chase isn’t allowing borrowed Pagan symbols to be displayed?
yeah, everybody knows the tree is the symbol of the Christian religion.
Nutjobs.
Frankly, I think they are both wrong.
The AFA is completely wrong in any assertion that we should embrace Christmas in the general population. The birth of Christ should be celebrated quietly by those believe in Him.
Chase, and the rest of the anti-Christmas crowd, should embrace this time of year as a time of celebration and joy, completely unrelated to the “invisible magic man in the sky.” The non-denominational decorations most commonly associated with this time of year should be embraced by all as part of this celebratory time, completely unrelated to a religious holiday.
Many, many other cultures manage to celebrate many annual holidays that are not religiously fueled, such as the changing of seasons, harvesting of crops, historic events, etc. Why can’t the extreme Christian community just shut the hell up, and let me decorate my tree in peace.
If one wants seasonal decorations, stick to snowflakes and snowmen (and that’s only if they’re in the northern hemisphere).
Wreaths are seasonal, as are trees in some areas. Other cultures have light festivals, so lights and shiny ornaments are perfectly okay, and not religious.
Really, nativity scenes and other displays relating to the birth of Jesus are mostly the only things really related to Christmas that is displayed.
Because the extreme Christian Dominionists believe that you really aren’t worth anything at all as the result of you not being part of their particular belief system.
They’re fairly terrifying when you really look at their systems and beliefs.
I’m not celebrating quietly. I will celebrate loudly, with off key singing and lots of wine.
A bank deciding to put up Christmas trees is not offensive… But a bank deciding to put up seasonal holiday decorations is ALSO not offensive.
In conclusion, the holiday season pretty much always serves to turn me into a misanthrope. Awesome.
Really, I am somehow supposed to know someones religious beliefs just by looking at them. I would rather play it safe and say hello, then say merry christmas to someone who may be of a different religion and who may take offense to that. These special interest groups need to realize that America is populated by many belief systems and theirs is one of many. I think Chase is correct in playing it safe and trying to accommodate all beliefs at this time of year.
Well, I like to wish everyone a ‘joyful midwinter holiday that you may or may not celebrate, depending on your belief system or lack thereof,’ but that’s kinda unwieldy. and gets me strange looks. So I usually shorten it to ‘happy holidays,’ and most people seem happy.
It seems weird to me that a Christiam organization is so pro-tree, seeing as those trees have nothing to do with Jesus’s birth, Many churches are anti-tree for that very reason.
s/tiam/tian/
“It’s just bad business for any company to show this kind of disregard for our Judeo-Christian heritage.”
My Judeo heritage really appreciates being encouraged to celebrate Christmas in Spain about 500 years ago by the Spanish Inquisition Association.
I thought that line was very curious.
Will any Jewish groups remind him what Jewish heritage is?
+1 I hate this misuse of the word “Judeo-Christian.”
QOTD: Judeo-Christian: just like regular Christianity, only insincerely 5% more inclusive!
The AFA are a bunch of nutjobs, who have a very poor understanding of the words you use. These words, inclusive, JudeoChristian, and disregard, do not mean what the AFA appears to think they mean.
This is weird. Don’t they have some baby seals to club for being too gluttonous? I mean, I’m religious and I don’t care whether Chase has a Christmas tree. I don’t care who has a Christmas tree. The only purpose Christmas trees have in a bank is to serve as a stand for all of the bank’s advertisement material anyway. I remember a bank years ago had a Christmas tree with a bunch of CDs as ornaments, and the inside booklet was a piece of paper advertising their high interest CD accounts. Is that Christmasy? Not at all.
Trees are a pagan tradition. Jeremiah 10, ya’ll. Gee whiz, are atheists the only people who actually read the bible.
well, the only ones who read and understand it.
I’m pretty sure most Christian traditions actually violate their own belief systems.
Jeremiah 10 is talking about making idols (think gold plating onto wood):
“For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.â€
“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.”
I always come to Consumerist for my Bible lessons.
@Obits3
Depending on which version of the bible that you believe is the real version I guess. This is from the King James.
3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
Sounds like a Christmas tree to me, but use whichever version makes you comfortable while you celebrate the Pagan tradition.
No. There are a lot of Christians who discuss Jeremiah 10 every year as one of the reasons why they don’t observe christmas.
As a person who considers themselves agnostic, but continues to celebrate christmas as a cultural holiday (ie trees, presents, santa,
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. how do I get the fuck off this planet?
I dunno, but lemme know if you figure out how before I do!
Oh, it’s Jesus’s birthday? Sorry, I don’t know any Hispanic people.
LOL, thanks for the laugh!
Christmas was invented by the Catholic Church during the middle ages a means to attract converts and replace local medieval pagan holidays – such as the winter solstice, in this case – with church-approved events; and what could be better than celebrating Jesus’ birthday.
Memo to Tim Wildmon:
Historians are are almost completely in agreement that Jesus was actually born in the spring – probably sometime in what we now know as the month of April.
Well, I’m glad they have a hobby.
The American Family ASSociation needs to DIAF. Seriously. I’ll start the kindling.
I’ll go get a Yule log and some brandy.
I’ll stand by with extra matches.
And I’ve got the camera on stand-by, this is going to be be on my new ‘holiday’ cards is send to friends and family….
Really, AFA? I can think of many other things that are more important. With all the different views people have towards the holidays, I think Chase is justified in their approach. I wish people “Happy Holidays” to people instead of Merry Christmas. I have no idea what view people have, so why should I unintentionally insult them?
I don’t understand why people would get insulted being wished “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah” or whatever anyway. They are all friendly greetings and I seriously would not care if someone sent a friendly greeting for the wrong holiday my way. It’s not as if they’re saying “Screw you.”
Pressuring companies to not acknowledge that there is any other belief system than Christianity is indeed a giant ‘screw you’ to any and all non-christians. If I get a ‘Merry Christmas’ at Chase, I will know damn well what they are saying to me.
I think there is a point at which you get tired of being wished “Merry Christmas” if you don’t celebrate it and you try to keep your kids from being overly influenced by it (think Jews & Jehovah’s Witnesses).
Is there a cozy place between the menorah, Christmas tree, and the Kwanzaa bush for my taxidermied baphomet head on wheels? Because if there’s not, I’m suing.
And what about my festively decorated, heirloom copy of the Necronomicon, eh? Don’t I deserve the chance to give the gift of insanity this year?
On the rare occasion I need to set foot inside my bank, I go there to, you know, conduct a banking transaction, not look at holiday decorations or lack there of.
The whole faux “War on Christmas” whining has grown tiresome. I’ve spent time as a mainline Protestant, but I’m happily agnostic now. I personally believe religion and spirituality are deeply private and should be kept out of commerce and the public square.
Businesses, for the most part, attempt to be non-offensive and accommodating to their clients and employees by appealing to as wide an audience as possible. This offends a small portion of the populace who see these attempts as part of an aggressive strategy to plot against them. Oh the irony, deliberate steps to avoid offense result in offense being taken!
Since some don’t understand that these practices are NOT aggressively anti-Xtian, perhaps they need more experience with practices that are. That or businesses could ban all decor completely. I’m not suggesting illegal acts of discrimination; I’d just like to give them the “war” they constantly whine about.
/rant
Actually I find this annual phantasmal “struggle” provides an endlessly fascinating example of what’s wrong with militant religionism. Yes, even if it’s mindbendingly annoying. I mean … assuming the authority to make Chase install Christmas trees in every branch … ? What better example of sheer arrogance could one ask for?
I should write the AFA, the Liberty Counsel, and the rest of those hyperreligious wingnut groups a collective thank-you note. After all, they’ve provided me with a lot of blog fodder.
-waits for these idiots to go after a Hebrew School or kosher deli for lack of Christmas trees-
I am surprised they haven’t gone after the Muslim international food store owner near me. Great little shop and I go there for most everything because I cook a lot of Iranian food. Good store. It would not surprise me if the militant Christians a few blocks down didn’t say something to him this season because it is offensive that he has the only shop in that complex sans-Christmas tree!
FTR, I AM Christian. I don’t have a Christmas tree. I don’t care if someone celebrates or not. It certainly would not offend me to see a menorah or if someone wished me a happy Eid! IDK. I guess I am just not that uptight!
What if I don’t celebrate ANY holidays. I think Chase should get rid of anything related to any holiday as it offends me deeply.
everyone know holiday number reason is so people would be stuff. I think it’s time that the country realize that if you market it as a winter celebration that include alll holidays, you can start to market other seasons.
Instead of turkey day then holiday season stuff and new years. we could be spending more time at home and buying things for:
Spring celebration – A week to celebrate the return of the birds and bee, and followers. You can even through in the easter bunny. And people should give gifts of flowers and seeds to each other. Sell potted baby tree and decorate them.
Summer Celebration – a week to celebrate the bikinis, beaches, swimming, bikinis and the sunshine. Sell gaint sun lights people can hang outside their houses. Throw that in with 4th of july bbq.
Fall Celebration – a week to celebrate the fruit of of labor. harvest crop and all that thinggie, big banquets. before thanksgiviing come along. Sell a gaint scarecrow where people can burn since spring is over, they won’t need scarecrow anymore. and the back to school spending is a plus
And we are back to winter.
I think most school figure this out. You have winter break, spring break, and summer break… they just need to squeeze a fall break and they are set. And business just need to find a way to get these kids who are out of school to ask their parent to buy stuff for them.
…
Happy Christmakwanzakah, yo.
Do these guys get upset about the Macy’s window display too?
everyone know holiday number reason is so people would be stuff. I think it’s time that the country realize that if you market it as a winter celebration that include alll holidays, you can start to market other seasons.
Instead of turkey day then holiday season stuff and new years. we could be spending more time at home and buying things for:
Spring celebration – A week to celebrate the return of the birds and bee, and followers. You can even through in the easter bunny. And people should give gifts of flowers and seeds to each other. Sell potted baby tree and decorate them.
Summer Celebration – a week to celebrate the bikinis, beaches, swimming, bikinis and the sunshine. Sell gaint sun lights people can hang outside their houses. Throw that in with 4th of july bbq.
Fall Celebration – a week to celebrate the fruit of of labor. harvest crop and all that thinggie, big banquets. before thanksgiviing come along. Sell a gaint scarecrow where people can burn since spring is over, they won’t need scarecrow anymore. and the back to school spending is a plus
And we are back to winter.
I think most school figure this out. You have winter break, spring break, and summer break… they just need to squeeze a fall break and they are set. And business just need to find a way to get these kids who are out of school to ask their parent to buy stuff for them.
“Christmas is a holiday we’ve set aside as a nation to honor the birth of Christ because of his impact on American and world history.”
Sorry but maybe i got my history books all mixed up…but I really don’t remember the pert of the history books where Corporations celebrating Christmas was essential to the building of this country.
“It’s just bad business for any company to show this kind of disregard for our Judeo-Christian heritage.”
And the Judeo part of that sentence should be ignored?
But hey – One way to keep money coming in to keep your followers riled up and angry. This is a great way for AFA to do just that.
Didn’t you know that the Judeos observe Christmas?
Maybe you forgot Jesus was Jewish.
In today’s edition of “People with too much time on their hands…”
I’m an atheist, but I love X-Mas (in the spirit of Futurama, I try to call it that). I love X-Mas trees, I love pretty lights, decorations and presents. What offends me, AFA, is that you are full of jerks. I “celebrate” this holiday by buying junk for people I mostly like that they may or may not need or want.
It’s ridiculous that this organization doesn’t even know its own religious history. Go read a book you didn’t make up.
Yeah, but the robot Santa that goes around killing people is a bit of a drag.
Here’s the problem.
AFA is a Christian organization. Read their website – one of their goals is ” to convince men of sin and drive them to Christ=s grace and forgiveness”.
That alone tells you that they will not be objective in their goals. To them, any family, or individual, or company that does not put Christianity at the forefront, is Anti-Family.
Instead, we should be talking about how a religious orgainzation like AFA pretends to have goals to promote family values, and not a religious point of view.
I’m pretty sure the group is mainly composed of rich families who own retail chains. Convince people to boycott your competition, you know.
Wow, talk about going from 0 MPH to blood boiling in about 3 seconds.
I am trying to censor myself here. Please give me a moment.
Ok, screw you Mr. AFA President. (The least vitriolic of the comments going through my head)
“This is an absurd policy… The most welcoming, inclusive thing you can do this time of year is wish people a merry Christmas.”
What is absurd, sir, is assuming that Christmas is at ALL inclusive. Christianity isn’t inclusive, for Jebus sake. If I am not Christian, and I don’t celebrate Christmas…see where this is going?
I wish I didn’t understand how people can be this , but I do. I really do.
As a Christian I believe AFA has it all wrong. Christmas is a Holy celebration for Christians. Not a time for rabid commercialism. Dick’s (and everyone else) is only putting up xmas decorations to lure ignorant people into their stores to spend more money than they should. AFA and other “Christians” need to get a clue, pay attention to the real meaning of Christmas, and leave the merchants to themselves.
I’m a Christian pastor … and this is just stupid. I hate being lumped in with all these AFA nuts. I’ve boycotted AFA for years, but a lot of good that’s done!
No, putting up banners saying “FUCK CHRISTMAS” would be showing disregard for Christmas. Being considerate of the religious traditions of other people is not. I would like to think that Jesus doesn’t care if you put up a tree, but does care about how you treat others. Speck, plank, etc.
It would be nice to hear that Dick’s Sporting Goods and Chase formed a joint venture called The Mind Your Own Fucking Business Association whose principal goal is to tell the American Family Association to team up with The Go Scrub Your Ass Association.
I’d pay actual money to see that.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has recently added the American Family Association to their list of hate groups because of positions they’ve taken on any number of issues. Recently the AFA stated that gays should pay for AIDS research because AIDS is entirely their fault.
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/12/american-family-association-gays-should.html
They’re an extremist hate group. Ignore them.
Sorry, I didn’t believe you. So I visited the afa site.
In my opinion from looking around the site for a few minutes, I can only conclude that it is a hate group.
these people are ignorant morons, this is exactly what Judeo-Christian Christ taught his followers, shove everything down their throat, if they don’t believe what you believe they are going to hell, God hates gays, God hates any other religion except Christianity because it is the ordained religion. God apparently creates bigots as well…
These are the people who start wars because they have nothing better to do.
They’re attention whores, nothing more. They have to get their name in the news so idiots will send them money. The Dick’s thing wound up too quickly, so they had to find another target FAST. That this is the best they could come up with is… pathetic.
Sure, I’ll cheapen the things you believe to be holy and sacred by paying you lip-service from my atheist mouth and then laugh at your inability to reason while putting your cash in my pocket.
The AFA was just designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, so I hope businesses won’t feel obligated to follow AFA’s whims any more than those of the KKK. As a Christian, I’d be just as happy to keep the “Christ” part of Christmas out of stores and businesses. Jesus didn’t have a great opinion of moneylenders, anyway.
So now the AFA assumes the power to force companies to place Christmas trees in all of their facilities … whether they want to or not? Who granted them that authority?
Must remember to put Mr. Wildmon and the AFA on my card list for the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s birthday.
Wow. I’m surprised by the hate in the comments.
I’m no particular fan of Chase, but they haven’t (yet) screwed me over as they have several other Consumerist readers. Still, if the AFA says Chase is evil, I think I’ll go on a campaign to support Chase and get everyone I know to open an account there. The AFA represent some of the worst aspects of religion, and don’t remind me at all of the inclusive, love-thy-neighbor Christianity I was raised to believe in.
I hate all these Pleasantville phuckers.
These people seem to have A LOT of time on their hands. I’m not the least bit offended by Chase’s decorations. I am offended by their business practices, but that is a completely different issue!
Does this organization realize that Christianity is not the only religion out there? Actually the problem is that they do not care that their actions are/can be offensive to non Christians. They don’t care that many people do not celebrate Christmas.
My family celebrates Christmas, but I don’t force anyone else too.
Really.. they worried about a tree… really? my my my what a waste of space this AFA is >> not there problem not there money so they should not be telling anyone what to do.