Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, and FTD

June 3, 2001 2:55 PM

Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, and FTD take some advice from Yahoo's porn advocates and drop Christian on-line store because of its connections to the American Family Association. Just Surreal. Or The Power of Porn?
posted by skallas (8 comments total)

Behold, the Power Of Porn.

(wipes off floor.)


Anything to bone Der Amerikanische Familien Verbindung
is a step in the right direction. as far as I can tell.
posted by dong_resin at 3:39 PM on June 3, 2001

Looks to me what's good for the goose is good for the gander. However, by fighting fire with fire, the porndudes are causing too many cooks to be spoiling the censorship broth. Not that it wasn't spoiled already. Those who started this fight shoulda just let sleeping dogs lie. Messing with porn fanatics is like hitting a hornet's nest with a baseball bat.

Or words to that effect.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:00 PM on June 3, 2001

How about the Power of Those Who Do Not Understand Statistics? As the article says that "According to Sutton, the AFA receives less than 1 percent of KingdomBuy's total contributions." In other words, the remaining 99 percent goes to "missionaries, churches, faith-based feeding programs for needy children and families, schools and many more groups around the world." While this mob of people would like to influence these companies into making the decision to disassociate themselves with the American Family Association, they are neglecting the rest of organisations that would be receiving help through KingdomBuy.com
posted by crog at 6:21 PM on June 3, 2001

Well, I'm not a big fan of the AFA (being an 'unholy sinner' and all)... but I am also not a huge fan of missionaries.

Yes, I think missionaries are doing a pretty good thing. But I think the price is just too high. And their hardball tactics for relief probably didn't go unnoticed by these companies. I would doubt it was wholly based on the AFA affiliation, but rather on many factors.

"Would you like some food and medicine? You would? Say you love Jesus. Say it. Say it and you'll get some wonderful food and medicine. Say you love Jesus. Come on, just say it."
posted by benjh at 8:11 PM on June 3, 2001

> I think missionaries are doing a pretty good thing.

That depends on the mission.

Are there any missionaries who do not try to convert people? Any who just go somewhere and, out of kindness alone, help people to get on with their lives? Or would that make them, by definition, not missionaries?
posted by pracowity at 12:17 AM on June 4, 2001

Personally I think it's hilarious to see the AFA on the receiving end of their usual tactics. The AFA constantly urges its members to send emails, letters, or phone calls to organizations that dare to advertise on programs with violence, or hire homosexuals, or even, gasp, stand up for the First Amendment. Maybe now they'll realize that any group with members can look like a "grassroots organization of concerned citizens."
posted by jed at 7:32 AM on June 4, 2001

Why doesn't kingdombuy.com drop their extremist associations and be more crowd-pleasing? There's a price to be paid by aligning yourself with the far-right or the far-left for that matter. I don't think the missionary work is such a hot selling point, when secular charities are competing for the donation dollar and won't be so Jebus centered (think Catholic views on prophylactics).

This looks like a failure for a part of the Christian community to self-police themselves. If you don't want to look like crazy, don't align yourselves with the AFA.
posted by skallas at 7:40 AM on June 4, 2001

Nope, then they wouldn't be missionaries. The true mission -- to convert as many people as you can to the 'one true church, or forever burn in hell'. Sorry... had History of the World from Mel Brooks just run through my head.

Like I said, the price is just to high.
posted by benjh at 10:10 AM on June 4, 2001