Last year the U.K. retail chain Debenham’s was slammed by the public for selling a controversial sweater that seemed to mock 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. The retailer was faced with significant backlash from Christians. Debenhams elected to pull the piece of clothing from its stores.
Christian leaders have pounced on the move. Andrea Williams, the CEO of Christian Concern, called for Christians to boycott 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 of the Spirit Embassy church in London, Rikki Doolan, 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 updated his post when Debenham’s pulled the shirt, “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.
Earlier that year, the Christian Tribune reported on the famous conservative Catholic priest Calvin Robinson warned Christians in the United States to be proactive and not allow the faith to dissipate as it has 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 describes how the culture has imploded in the UK 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. Robinson sees the decline of the West as being inextricably linked to the decline of the Church.
“These kinds of trends are happening in the States, too, I think,” he explained. “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.” He thinks that America has a chance to sidestep the decline that has affected the UK.
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Disgraceful that @Debenhams were selling this product. A full public apology must follow. https://t.co/N3IXbJx0hp pic.twitter.com/uVqyHqXq5V
— Christian Concern (@CConcern) November 8, 2024
Despite this seemingly unsurmountable challenge, Robinson is hopeful. “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 — falls, we must think big picture and remember that God has a plan, and He only permits things for a reason.”