American Family Association demands special treatment for Christians

The American Family Association is planning a boycott of a major retailer in the US which does not use the word "Christmas" in their displays during the holiday season.

For some reason the action alert they emailed is not posted on their site, so I'm reproducing it here:

Would you be willing to boycott stores that refuse to use the word 'Christmas'?

AFA will call for a boycott of a national retailer this Christmas

October 9, 2009

Dear ##my#name###,

Christians celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Christ. It's a federal holiday and has always held a special place in the hearts of Americans. Yet there are those companies which feel that a public recognition of the birthday of Christ is not appropriate. Why? Because a few people may be offended!

In early November, AFA will choose at least one national retailer and ask you to boycott it until it begins recognizing Christmas in its "holiday" advertising. Will you let us know you will support our efforts by participating in the boycott?

Would you be willing to boycott retailers which refuse to allow the word Christmas to be displayed in their stores? Give us your answer.

Take Action!

Would you be willing to boycott stores which refuse to allow the word Christmas to be displayed in their stores?

Click Here to take our online poll now!

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 "God's Gift - Merry Christmas" button.

Thank you for caring enough to get involved. If you feel our efforts are worthy of support, would you consider making a small tax-deductible contribution to help us continue?

Sincerely,

Tim Wildmon, President
American Family Association

Poor oppressed Christians. How horrible that stores selling products for people of many different beliefs are choosing inclusive "holiday" displays, which apply not only to Christmas but also Chanukah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Yule, Winter Solstice, etc.?

The AFA accuses GLBT people of wanting "special" rights when they're merely seeking the same rights as cis straight people. Yet they have no problem with demanding that Christians get preferential treatment from retailers.

It's also interesting that they say their campaign is against materialism, so why are they hawking all kinds of "God's Gift: Merry Christmas" junk? (I noticed that although they call the prices "suggested donations", there is no way of making a smaller "donation". And judging by the prices of custom printed buttons (that's just the first site I found; no doubt if they shopped around they would pay even less), their donations don't just cover their costs but include a healthy profit. No wonder they rake in tens of millions of dollars every year.

The connection between gay marriage and mass murders

Morality in Media has sent out their most ridiculous news release yet, which doesn't seem to be on their website so I am reproducing it in full.

Connecting the Dots: The Link Between Gay Marriage and Mass Murders

NEW YORK (April 9, 2009) – On April 4 the NY Times ran adjacent front-page articles on the Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing ‘gay marriage’ and the gunman who murdered 13 people in New York. That day the Times also ran an op ed article by Charles M. Blow who expressed concern about the negative impact that conservative media’s “talk of revolution” could have on “weak minds.”

Commenting on this is Morality in Media President Bob Peters:

“Having lived in New York City for more than 30 years, I am all too aware of the harm that firearms in the hands of criminals can cause. Having grown up in a small town in Illinois, where citizens owned guns without misusing them, I am also aware that guns aren’t the underlying problem. I am not an opponent of gun regulation; I am an opponent of making guns the scapegoat for mass murder.

“The underlying problem is that increasingly we live in a ‘post-Christian’ society, where Judeo-Christian faith and values have less and less influence. Among other things, Judaism and Christianity taught that murder was wrong and that included murder motivated by anger, hatred and revenge. Both religions also taught that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves and to forgive others.

“For many citizens, what has replaced Judeo-Christian faith and values is the secular value system that is reflected in films, rap/music lyrics, and videogames and on TV and now the Internet, where the taking of human life for just about any reason is commonplace and is often portrayed in an appealing manner and in realistic detail. Murder motivated by hatred and revenge is also justified.

“This secular value system is also reflected in the ‘sexual revolution,’ which is the driving force behind the push for ‘gay marriage;’ and the Iowa Supreme Court decision is another indication that despite all the damage this revolution has caused to children, adults, family life and society (think abortion, divorce, pornography, rape, sexual abuse of children, sexually transmitted diseases, trafficking in women and children, unwed teen mothers and more), it continues to advance relentlessly.

“It most certainly is not my intention to blame the epidemic of mass murders on the gay rights movement! It is my intention to point out that the success of the sexual revolution is inversely proportional to the decline in morality; and it is the decline of morality (and the faith that so often under girds it) that is the underlying cause of our modern day epidemic of mass murders.

“I would add that if conservative media’s irresponsible talk of revolution can ‘poison weak minds,’ the liberal entertainment media’s irresponsible portrayal of mayhem can also poison weak minds.”

This is so ridiculous it is hard to respond to. He thinks that access to guns has nothing to do with murder (contrary to evidence) and gay marriage does? (I'd include a link about gay marriage and murder rates but I doubt anyone has researched such a ridiculous possibility.)

Supposedly the link is that the "secular morality" which permits gay marriage considers murder to be justified. Where he gets this idea from I have no idea. Note that he gives no evidence for this, because there is none! The few people I have ever heard of arguing in favour of gratuitous murder are either mentally ill (and most mentally ill people are no more violent than anyone else) or religious fanatics!

Only the twisted mind of a homophobe could see loving couples wanting to make a formal lifelong commitment to each other and connect that love to acts of violence and hate.

On the bright side, fewer and fewer people are buying into the homophobes arguments, which is perhaps what is making them so desperate. In the US, support for same-sex marriage is increasing, especially among younger people. Eventually it will be clear to everyone that legalizing same sex marriage, as we did here in Canada a few years ago, benefits people who want to marry someone of the same sex and has no effect on anyone else.

Edward Current on phony Christians

The brilliant Edward Current takes on fundamentalists who believe that every word of the Bible is literally true.

I mailed my request to Peter Popoff

On the form he sent the other day, I asked for my income to be quintupled. I figure this is specific enough to tell clearly if it came true or not, and is unlikely to happen between now and May 18 (the timeframe he specified for my miracle to occur.)

After Nicky mailed the form for me, I realized I had forgotten to put in a cheque for Peter Popoff. Oops!

Peter Popoff sent me Aaron's Rod! Wow!

I'll admit, I've been negligent. I got another "personal" letter from Peter Popoff about a week ago, but didn't open it until last night because the envelope looked boring and I was busy enjoying the first decent weather of the year. But now it's gotten cold again so I have time for Pete's correspondence.

This letter is shorter than the last one, thank goodness. And he sent me another gift!

Again, I'm posting the letter in full (with my personal info blurred out) for the benefit of anyone else who is getting these "personal" letters.

The opening line of this one is interesting: "What's going on? Haven't you received my last letter?" I don't recall him writing anything like this before, although I usually do not respond to his letters. Perhaps Peter Popoff Ministries has upgraded their client management software?

In the second paragraph, he specifically predicts two major changes in my life between April 28 (that's today) and May 18. I'll post on May 18 on whether or not this prediction came true.

In the fifth paragraph, he asks me to clear my mind of various things like "the worry over your need of a job". Whoops, looks like the computer put me in the wrong category for these mailings, since on the form I filled out way back when I'm pretty sure I said my biggest worry was my chronic health problems (which have lead to financial problems). Regardless of what I put on the form, since he has claimed numerous times that he is getting personal communication from God about my situation, he should know that my big worry is not getting a job, but getting well enough so that I can worry about getting a job. But I guess it's safer to promise jobs to the unemployed than to promise cures for the incurably ill.

He also mentions in the third paragraph "a family problem that has been at a stand still for a long time". I haven't a clue what this could be referring to.

In particular, he's promising what he calls a Numbers 17:8 miracle.

Here on page 2, he asks be a couple of personal questions:

"Have you been in a situation where all of your hopes were dashed instantly?" While there have been times when certain things have been hopeless, I can't recall ever having my hopes dashed instantly. More often I have foolishly maintained hopes of things improving when most people would have given up long before (e.g. my second marriage).

"Have you ever been in a situation where people who are really important to you just seem to, for no apparent reason, drift away from your grip?" Yes, though not right now, but like with the first "personal" question, he has described a situation in such generic terms that no doubt a large percentage of the population could identify it.

Of course he is hoping that I (and the thousands of others who no doubt received this letter) am thinking, "Wow, he really understands what I'm going through!" To bad for him that I have read too much about cold reading to be taken in.

In the bottom half of page 2, he starts his usual plea for money in general terms, ("things must be done", "There is at least one important thing you must do")

On page 3 he puts on the pressure. In fact, according to him, only he can solve my problems because he has a "supernatural anointing", whatever that means. Otherwise, "there is no way out". And if I do not read his whole letter and do what he says, I "may regret it for a long, long time, probably for the rest of your life".

On page 4, he asks me to press the "Numbers 17:8 Aaron's Rod" against my forehead and say a prayer. I actually did this. He also asks me to sleep with the rod under my pillow. I forgot to do it last night but I'll do it tonight, so that no one can claim that's why I didn't get my miracle. Then I'm to break the rod in half and mail half back to him.

If you're curious what Aaron's rod looks like, according to Popoff, here it is. To me it looks just like a piece of a bamboo skewer, the kind that sells at 100 for a dollar around here. But he did put it in some kind of cloth pouch. Interestingly, although this is supposedly like Aaron's Rod in Numbers 17:8, he doesn't promise that it will sprout and bear almonds.

And finally, at the bottom of page 4, he gets around to asking me for money. To be precise, he asks for "$17.08 to honor Numbers 17:8". Interestingly, he never asks for a donation to honour any verses from the first chapters of any of the books of the bible, I wonder why that is?

Here's the form he wants me to fill in, which asks not only for money but also for my "secret" requests, presumably so that he can show his "divine" knowledge of my situation in future letters. He even stuck on this post-it note to remind me to send as much money as possible. Gotta love that personal touch.

Then, at the very end of all this correspondence, he mentions that no one else should touch the Aaron's rod. Of course, he doesn't mention this until after I have spent 10 minutes reading his letter and my curious child has had lots of time to ask what's going on and handle the rod. Probably most people who got this letter who have kids have accidentally let the kids touch the thing. So that gives Popoff an easy out for when our Numbers 17:8 miracles doesn't come according to his prediction.

A personal letter to me from Peter Popoff!

A few months ago, I filled out a form on Peter Popoff's website for a free "book", Prosperity Thinking (really a booklet).. Since then he has been my most frequent correspondent, sending me "personal" letters at least once a week, sometimes more. I've decided to post my "personal letters" here from now on, for the benefit of the other people who are no doubt getting exactly the same "personal" letters from Peter Popoff. Since he has sent a few little gifts in the past, when I saw this envelope I thought there might be a paper angel inside, but no, there was just... I'll reveal it later, he wanted me to read all of his letter before looking at the special envelope inside with the gift.

Here's his letter— you may have received one just like it. (Click to see larger version). Note the bright green faux handwriting... I've blurred out my personal information.

He writes, "I've never written you a letter like this before..." Really? I guess he's forgotten all the other letters he's sent me for the last few months...

He says God has a plan to solve my money problems, but to get this money I must be obedient to God, and "Obedience to God will involve sacrifice." I wonder what that could be? Could it be, oh, I don't know, sending money to Peter Popoff, just like he's asked in every other letter?

At the top of page 2, he writes, "You cannot deny that this letter contains things about you personally." Well, actually, the only personal information in the letter is my name, address, and that I am having unspecified money problems, all information he got from the form I filled out to order his free booklet. Which seems pretty strange since he is supposedly praying for me personally and getting visions from God about my situation.

Unfortunately he apparently is taking in a lot of people with these "personal letters". Peter Popoff Ministries raked in $23 million in 2005, according to Charity Navigator--Popoff himself got a salary of $628K, his wife Elizabeth made $203K, and his son Nickolas took in $182K.

On page 3, he finally reveals what was "terrifying" about the vision he had. The world is ending! But I will be "surrounded by a hedge of divine protection" IF I "enter into this 'endtime covenant' in the next 90 days." In other words, there's not much time left to think about it, I need to send him money soon or I'll be vulnerable to the "wars..., plagues and rivers of blood and insects". Of course my money problems won't matter then (though he claims that he "through faith... [has] found the money [I] need"), and certainly the donation he's asking for will be irrelevant when the endtime comes, while his divine protection won't be.

Here on the last page of the letter, he harps on and on about how I must be obedient and have faith. The miracle money that will bring me a glorious future (even though the world is ending?) and make me rich is "only for those who can give in strict obedience and faith". I'm guessing this is not just to guilttrip those who are having doubts about sending their money to this con-artist, but also to give him an out—if someone doesn't get their miracle money, he can claim it was because they did not have enough faith.

He usually includes a smaller envelope with something special inside which we are not supposed to open until we read his whole long letter (four pages, legal size). I suppose that opening this envelope without reading the whole long letter could be another excuse for the miracle money not coming. Inside the envelope are "Special Holy Instructions for Miracle New Millennium Money!" He wants me to burn some incense he's sent to me and mail him the ashes so he can "fast and pray in sackcloth and ashes... for miracle money for you!"

Now we get to the main point of this mailing: to get my miracle money, I have to send money to Peter Popoff. Not only that, but my offering will be rejected if it's not enough. "If the offering is rejected... there can be no harvest."

How much do I have to give? "Too many times people respond when they receive a ministry letter from me by just sending anything." I have give enough that it is a sacrifice to me. "If the gift you give to God does not move you... how can it move God?" (So now Peter Popoff is God?) In other words, give 'til it hurts (he suggests $50--i.e. perhaps a weeks grocery money for some person in dire financial need. I wonder how many poor people are going with out food to support this jerk's lavish salary?)

And here's the form I'm supposed to send back to him. (I occasionally do send the forms back, though never with any money.) He reassures me that "this is not a work of man... but it is the work of the Holy Spirit." (God sends form letters?) "I have not been called by God to take money from you..." (so why is he trying to do so?) "but ... to help get miracle money to you." How reassuring.

He warns me that "during the next few moments, satan [sic] is going to try to convince you that this is not of God... or that I'm only trying to get your money." Gee, why would we think that? It must be Satan's work.

And another guilt trip—my offering of sacrifice is to benefit not just me but also my "loved ones".

Not only does he want $50 now, but he wants me to pledge $1000, or $500, or $100. That makes $50 look almost reasonable.

On the back of the form, he asks for information about my debt (perhaps to insert in future form letters?) and testimonials. The lady at the bottom won a lottery of $7.2 million after sending $7 to Peter Popoff, and asks for "wisdom and insight as to what I should do with all this money." I'm sure that Peter Popoff will have a suggestion for her...