The U.K. retail chain Debenham’s recently came under fire for selling a controversial sweater that seemingly mocked Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ. The piece of apparel had the phrase “A Gay in a Manger” while depicting a rainbow emanating from the manger.
Subsequently, the retailer was met with backlash from Christians, upset with the apparel that many see as a mockery of the birth of Christ. In the face of controversy and calls to boycott the store, Debenhams elected to pull the piece of clothing from its stores.
Christian leaders have slammed the move, where Andrea Williams, the CEO of Christian concern, called for Christians to cease shopping at the retailer. “The company producing these products should be boycotted,” she said. “Disgraceful that @Debenhams were selling this product. A full public apology must follow,” the group wrote on X.
Pastor Rikki Doolan of the Spirit Embassy church in London also wrote on social media, “The main issue at hand here is, if you are going to mock people’s faith then why do you only do it to Christianity? What is it that makes you feel it’s ok to do it to us? Unless you have gay Muhammad and Buddha T-shirts that we don’t know of?”
Doolan later posted an update after it was announced that Debenhans would no longer be selling the product, “RESULT! @grindstore have removed all of their Jesus related products from their store. Well done saints, we are more unified than ever before,” he added. According to a statement from the company, “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.” Grindstore, the producer of the sweater, also released a statement issuing an apology, explaining it did not intend to offend anyone.
The Christian Tribune recently reported on other troubling signs for Christianity in the United Kingdom, where famous conservative Catholic priest Calvin Robinson warned Christians in United States to be proactive and not allow the faith to dissipate like it has overseas in Europe.
“Please don’t do what we did,” Robinson said. “Please don’t just sit back and let the liberals deteriorate the rest of everything that you know and love,” he added. He further described the state of affairs in the U.K., illustrating the culture has imploded as cultures clash, particularly with Muslim immigrants.
“We’re starting to see the bad fruits of that. And so, without our Christian moral compass, without our Christian values, without our Christian ethics, without any of that, we are grasping at straws. And this is why we’re seeing some woke ideologies temporarily take the place of what used to be Christian,” he continued.
“These kinds of trends are happening in the States, too, I think,” he noted. “Be careful. American culture is a fantastic culture. Hold on to it, promote it, encourage it. If you want to become multicultural and let other cultures in, that’s something you have to consider. But do not give it up to the detriment of your own.”
However, in the midst of formidable challenges, Robinson maintains that he does not fall into hopelessness. “I don’t despair at all,” he said. “Despair is a sin. There’s no sense in despairing. As I say, empires rise and fall. So as this empire — the British Empire, or Western civilization — as it falls, it’s our duty to think big picture and remember that God has a plan, and He only permits things for a reason.”
Featured image credit: Mtaylor848, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Debenhams,_Wakefield,_West_Yorkshire_(8th_December_2020).jpg