More Mail: AFA Fundraising

More mail.  And this one came from an email farm server in Phoenix, so I can’t even blame anyone.  Actually, I can.  I blame myself for putting my email address out there on my blog.

Anyway, I got this in the email today and, well, shit.  Read it:

October 7, 2009

Dear (((Billy))),

Your new Christmas button:
“It’s OK to say Merry Christmas”

Help preserve our tradition of saying “Merry Christmas” by sponsoring Project Merry Christmas in your church.

It’s hard to believe that there are companies and individuals who want to ban “Merry Christmas” and replace it with “Holiday Greetings” because, they say, they don’t want to offend anyone.

Christians can take a stand and proclaim to our communities that Christmas is not just a winter holiday focused on materialism, but a “holy day” when we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  We can do it in a gentle and effective way by wearing the “It’s OK to say Merry Christmas” button.

You can help preserve our tradition of greeting others with a “Merry Christmas” by taking a vital leadership role in AFA’s “Project Merry Christmas.”

Here’s how. AFA is making available an attractive button and Glossy Sticker that carry on our tradition of saying   “It’s OK to say Merry Christmas.”

Purchase enough buttons for each member of your church and enough Glossy Stickers for each family to have one to go on their automobile. Urge your fellow members to wear their buttons and display the Glossy Stickers during the entire Christmas season.

If you are unable to sponsor your church yourself, ask your Sunday School class to make it a class project. You can even order buttons and Glossy Stickers to share with co-workers, children in Christian schools, customers, etc.

Some might think simply wearing a button or displaying a Glossy Sticker is a small thing, but God can use small things to make a big point, and to create opportunities to share the Good News. And what a great time to do that at Christmas!

AFA is asking individuals like you in thousands of communities across the nation to head up this project in their local churches. Your willingness to underwrite the cost for your church and enthusiastically promote this project is the key to making an impact in your area.

Click Here to Order

Sincerely,

Donald E. Wildmon, Chairman
American Family Association

No.  I won’t.

First, how does fostering paranoia, forcing your narrow-minded homophobic anti-democratic views, and fleecing followers promote a ‘Christmas’ spirit?  Where, in any of the teachings attributed to the Jewish mystic known as Jesus, are the verses about fundraising?  or making a profit off of a prophet?

Second, no one is telling anyone they cannot say ‘merry Christmas.’  There are certain situations, such as retail sales, in which this exclusive statement is discouraged (as are others such as, but not limited to, happy Ramadan, Feliz Navidad, happy Passover, or happy Orgy Day) for reasons of inclusivity, however we accept limitations on free speech in work places, even as conditions of employment.

Third, I don’t go to church, nor do I belong to a church.

Fourth, no way in hell am I going to finance the AFA’s outright right-wing lies (America was founded as a Christian nation, gays will destroy marriage, Obama will put Planned Parenthood in all schools, gays want to haunt womens rest rooms, boycotting Pepsico because they refused to discriminate), AFA’s scare mongering, AFA’s blatently Christianist and dominionist agenda. 

I have sent (approximately) the same response to AFA.  I really do not expect a reply.  If I get one, I will publish it.