Parshall Partners

Selling Bigotry

         Christmas is a time when Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is a joyous and humbling time for believers as we remember that God became man and dwelled among us to pay the ultimate penalty for our sins. But not everyone believes this.

         Debenham’s was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, and is still operating as a franchise in seven Middle East countries. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries. After falling into financial difficulty, the company was sold and eventually became a type of on-line store.

         Now, the company has fallen into controversy because of some Christmas merchandise they were selling. Debenhams has been forced to remove a controversial Christmas sweater from its website after protests from Christians. The purple sweatshirt, which was created by the alternative clothing brand Grindstore, features a print of a rainbow emanating out of a manger, under the words, ‘Gay In A Manger’.

         Grindstore puts out products with a particular worldview. For example, you can purchase a coffee mug that says, “Join our coven”, statues of pentagrams, or a 'Bad Religion' T-shirt with Jesus riding a chopper motorbike. Debenham’s pulled the sweater selling for just over $50.00 as well as a ‘Gay in the Manger’ mug as more and more Christians complained about the merchandise.

         A former member of Parliament noted, “'Debenhams would not mock Islam in this way.” A pastor at a church from north London posted on X, “What makes you think @Debenhams that it is OK to insult the Christian faith in such a disgusting way as this? Do you think it's right to freely mock our faith and God like this? We as British Christians will not tolerate this.”,

         In response, Debenhams released a statement saying, “We are aware that a product line featured on our marketplace has raised some questions. In line with our policies, we are reviewing the products and have temporarily paused them while we investigate.” Grindstone, the producers of the questionable products said, 'As a small business we are always open to listening to feedback. We have now removed the highlighted products, our apologies...the intention was not to offend or insult anyone.”

         These bigoted products are being sold while hate crimes against Christians are growing in Europe. The number jumped from 749 crimes in 2022 to 2,444 in 2023. That’s a 226% uptick in religiously motivated crimes against Christians.

         How interesting that while people are being arrested in the UK for posting things the government deems hateful on line, that same government is turning a blind eye toward these hateful items.

         Remember this season, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, He did tell us, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

         Those are my thoughts. I’m Janet Parshall.