Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Karen Spears Zacharias

Home
Evangelical
Grinchalert

Grinchalert

Last updated on: December 14, 2010 at 2:47 am by Karen Spears Zacharias

Grinchalert 2010-12-14T02:47:01+00:00 Karen Spears Zacharias

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Editor’s note: A glimpse of the $130 million building project planned by the good folks at First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas. Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor at First B, is urging businesses to put Christ back into Christmas through the website Grinchalert.com

Best Buy, Kirklands and Alaska Airlines all made the nice list, but Nordstrom, Macy’s and Barnes & Noble had better watch out. They’ve been tagged on the naughty side of Christmas. But don’t blame Santa – he’s not the one keeping this list of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.

This idea originated with Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Jeffress came up with the website, Grinchalert.com, because he wanted to make a point about keeping Christ in Christmas.

Grinchalert.com allows people to create their own lists of businesses that promote the Christ in Christmas and shame those who don’t. “It’s an attempt to do something positive,” Jeffress says.

Admittedly, Jeffress has some warped notions about what it means to play nicely with others. This is the same fellow who during the debate over the placement of a mosque three blocks from Ground Zero warned his people Islam is an evil religion, one that promotes pedophilia.

“The deep, dark, dirty secret of Islam: It is a religion that promotes pedophilia – sex with children. This so-called prophet Muhammad raped a 9-year-old girl – had sex with her,” Jeffress said.

To be clear, it’s not Islam that Jeffress is fed up with so much as it is a namby-pamby propensity toward political correctness that our culture has cultivated. Jeffress is a man who says what he thinks, even when he probably hasn’t given as much thought to it as he should have.

Before the executives at Nordstrom and Macy’s storm the offices at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Jeffress wants them to know he’s not the one keeping track of who is naughty and nice. The website is a public forum, like Letters to the editor, Jeffress told a FoxNews reporter. “In a pluralist society like ours everyone ought to be able to share their views,” he said.

You have to hand it to Jeffress for adopting the language of the politically correct and finessing it to suit his purposes. What those purposes are, however, is downright disturbing. If Jeffress is trying to put the Christ back into Christmas, he’s sure picked an ugly, Un-Christ-like, way to do that.

He says that the website is simply a positive way to reward those businesses that promote the spirit of having a Merry Christmas. It is not, he insists, meant to be a boycott of businesses that fail to do that.

It’s true that the comments praising the businesses that meet some nebulous standard of what constitutes a Christian Christmas far outnumber the comments on the naughty list. But it also true that those on the naughty list are getting a public spanking for their holiday, not Christmas, spirit.

After a shopping experience at Target, one person wrote: “I was looking for an ornament that reflected the reason for the season, and I could not find anything that said Merry Christmas. I’m tired of seeing ONLY snowmen, Santa Clauses, snowflakes, birds, glitter, act. I could not find a gift bag, an ornament, or a gift box with a manger or the Holy Family on it. My husband & I will make a conscious (sic.) effort to support stores like Mardel’s, Hobby Lobby, Life Way, or church bookstores that support Christmas wholeheartedly.”

Another said of Barnes & Noble: “Employees will not say “Merry Christmas” because they have been instructed to say ‘Happy Holidays.’ This has been going on for years and I quit buying from them years ago.”

Jeffress can deny it all he wants, but the message that comes across is loud and clear: Good Christians will only shop at the stores that give lip service to Jesus.

Ironically, Jeffress and his followers never address the question of how the babe in the manager became the poster child for Capitalism to begin with. If Jeffress and his Grinch Alert crew is so all-fired concerned about keeping Christ in Christmas, they might want to be begin by spending less time in the shopping malls and more time at the homeless shelters. That’s the most likely place Jesus would hang any time of the year.

Previous Post

December 13, 2010

Gossip: The Opiate of the Oppressed

Next Post

December 16, 2010 Drumroll: The Winner is...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category child abuse Military ministry pop culture prayer Sports Uncategorized Veterans Day

Select a Month July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz