Freedom of Religion Watch Update 11/30/2005

I received the following email from American Family Association (AFA) and decided to forward it on to you as part of my alert update:

Target Doesn't Respond, Refuses To Include "Christmas"

AFA asks for boycott because of Target’s anti-Christmas stance

Dear Bosun,

In an effort to get Target to include "Christmas" in their in-store promotions and retail advertising for next year's (2006) season, we wrote Chairman Robert Ulrich. We told Chairman Ulrich that we knew it was too late to change his in-store promotions and retail advertising for this year. We asked him if Target would assure us that the company would make Christmas an integral part of their promotions and advertising next year.

We told Chairman Ulrich that if Target would honor our request, we would encourage our supporters and others to shop at Target. But we also said that if he refused, or did not respond, we would ask our supporters to boycott Target.

How did Chairman Ulrich respond to our request? He did not respond at all! Chairman Ulrich sent a clear message—Target will continue to ban "Christmas."

Would you join us in a boycott of Target, and forward this to friends and family asking them to do the same? Yes, there are other companies which refuse to use Christmas. But if Target gets the message and their sales go down—every other national retailer will also get the message!

Then we can expect some big changes in their promotion and advertising next year.Target doesn't want to offend a small minority who oppose Christmas. But they don't mind offending Christians who celebrate the birth of Christ, the Reason for the season.

It is very important that you sign our pledge to boycott Target. Nearly 600,000 have already done so. Our goal is 1,000,000. We need your help! Click HereTo sign the Boycott Pledge Now!

You might want to call Target at 612-304-6073 and then press 6. It will cost you about 15 cents to make the call. If busy, please continue to call until you get through. Be polite. Tell Target that you are disappointed that they continue to ban Christmas. You might also want to contact your local Target store manager.

ATTENTION! Expect Target To Try To Confuse YouWhen you call Target, they will no doubt try to confuse you. You may be told their employees are free to greet people with a "Merry Christmas." You may be told that they support the Salvation Army. You may be told many things in order to confuse you.

Therefore, ask this one simple basic question and don't allow them to confuse you. "Do you use the term 'Christmas' in your in-store promotions developed by Target (not products you have for sale) and do you include the term 'Christmas' in your retail advertising?"

Target refuses to use "Christmas" in their in-store promotions or in their retail advertising. If you are told they do, you are being mislead.

Thanks for caring enough to get involved.

Sincerely,

Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder andChairman American Family Association

www.afa.net
American FamilyAssociation (AFA)
P O Drawer 2440Tupelo, MS 38803
1-662-844-5036

P.S. Please forward this to your friends and family.

NOTE FROM BOS'UN: I CHECKED WITH SNOPES.COM TO SEE THEIR TAKE ON THIS ISSUE. NORMALLY SNOPES IS UP FRONT ABOUT EVERYTHING. HOWEVER, SNOPES SCOOTS THE ISSUE, SO TO SPEAK. SNOPES DOES INDICATE THAT IT APPEARS TARGET DOES NOT SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE CHRISTMAS. I WAS SUPRISED THAT SNOPES WAS UNUSALLY "WISHY-WASHY" ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS ISSUE. ONE HAS TO WONDER WHY SO MANY PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS ARE GETING WISHY-WASHY ON THE CHRISTMAS ISSUE. CHRISTMAS AND OUR JUDEO-CHRISTIAN HERITAGE OF OUR COUNTRY IS AS CLEAR AS A BELL TO ME. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU.

URL for SNOPES page is: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/targetxmas.asp

Technorati tags:Religious Tolerance, politically correct, Religious Freedom, Opinion, atheist activist, In God We Trust, One Nation Under God, Liberal Left, Anti-Religion, ACLU, Christian ministry program, Freedom From Religion Foundation

Cross-posted: Bosun also at MSN