Imagine yourself in this dilemma: You’ve come to accept the complete commercialization of your savior’s birthday, but want to be sure to spend your hard-earned money at stores that honor the true meaning of Christmas.  How can you tell which major retailers love baby Jesus as much as you do?

You go to StandForChristmas.com!

Brought to you by the religious non-profit group Focus on the Family, Stand For Christmas is a customer-review portal that basically rates the Christmas-spirit — on a scale from “friendly” to “offensive” — of our nation’s largest retailers.

Target earns high marks for displaying “Merry Christmas” signs.  Bass Pro Shops put “Christmas Sale” on the front page of their ad.  And Wal-Mart earned praise for carrying “religious-themed Christmas cards.”  See, it doesn’t take much to rated as “Christmas-friendly.”

How about on the other side of the spectrum?  This is where it really gets good!  The following stores are rated highly “Christmas-offensive” and I swear I’m not making these up.

  • Banana Republic – “I’m so sad, because I like their clothes! And I’m sad for their employees who are told not to say “Christmas”. Many of them must be conflicted. They are mostly young people, so I wonder, does it harm their faith?”
  • Gap – “First thing I notice is that they are only playing non-Christian Christmas songs (Jingle Bells, etc.). Unacceptable.”
  • Gap – “The new TV commercial by the GAP still refuses to mention Christmas and finishes with Happy Holidays. I do not find this acceptable anymore. Only Merry Christmas is an acceptable response this time of year.”
  • Best Buy – “I am dismayed to hear…Best Buy’s corporate policy of holiday “inclusiveness”.”
  • Best Buy – “Due to your pro “diversity” language, I will always buy from someone else. You are no longer my “Best Buy” even though I live in Minnesota. Add that to your bottom line. Shalom.”
  • American Eagle Outfitters – “This store was playing MTV when I was in there last, I was glad my daughter was in the dressing room because the video that was on was porn.”
  • Borders – “They sure do have a lot of titles with “Christmas” in them, but they are accompanied by cursing or other inappropriate words.”

From a business perspective, it would seem far less risky to just go ahead and use the word “Christmas” in your ads and in your stores.  Everyone understands that the vast majority of the population celebrates Christmas, and I don’t imagine many Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, etc. will boycott your store for catering overtly to the Christian holiday.  These “offensive” companies think they’re playing it safe by being PC, when the reality is they could be shooting themselves in the foot.

At the same time, mixing religion, politics, and capitalism is a slippery slope.  Consider the organic-foodie’s predicament when the CEO of hippie-haven Whole Foods announced this fall he was opposed to Obama’s public health care plan.

Also, these easily offended shoppers might consider the mounting historical evidence that Jesus was not born on December 25th, and that Christmas has a long tradition as a pagan holiday.  Maybe Target is the real “offensive” store, since they’re just manipulating your misconceptions to make a buck.

Focus on the Family is a hateful group

In recent years, Focus on the Family has supported boycotts of Disney, Kraft Foots, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Gap, and Ford.  These companies came into the cross-hairs for the sins of offering domestic partner benefits or advertising to homosexuals.  Focus on the Family also donated piles of money in 2008 to support California’s Proposition 8 campaign.

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