Borders Tags Atheist Book with 'O Come All Ye Faithless' Cards

A controversial Christmas card reading 'O come all ye faithless' has been strongly criticized by Christians as an 'ill judged and insensitive joke.' Borders book stores began giving away the card free with every copy of Richard Dawkins’ well known atheist work, 'The God Delusion,' this Christmas.

Mon, Dec. 17, 2007 Posted: 18:58:46 PM EST

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A controversial Christmas card reading “O come all ye faithless” has been strongly criticized by Christians as an “ill judged and insensitive joke.” Borders book stores began giving away the card free with every copy of Richard Dawkins’ well known atheist work, The God Delusion, this Christmas.

The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. said the idea was “crass.”

“I am quite sure that Borders intended their Christmas card as a joke. However, I personally find it an ill-judged and insensitive joke,” he said, as reported by Baptist Times.

He continued, “Christians have always been used to being punch bags but I would have hoped that, in a society in which we are seeking to show respect to all people and beliefs, we might have grown out of this kind of nonsense.”

He was supported by Justin Thacker, head of theology at the Evangelical Alliance, who said, “It won't surprise me if this spectacularly fails. Christmas still holds a high place in people's hearts - I think a lot of people will be offended by it."

Borders has responded to the criticism by issuing a statement which said it “did not intend it as anti-Christian or a swipe at the Christian faith,” and said that it “apologizes to any of our customers who feel it was that,” according to Baptist Times.

The book store described the card as a “continuation” of the debate on atheism that had come as result of the book, which was a bestseller for Borders this year.

“Our customers are intelligent, curious people who enjoy exploring all types of books and music. Naturally, some of the thousands of books and music selections we carry could be considered controversial or objectionable depending on individual views, tastes and interest,” Borders said in a statement.

"However, Borders stands by its commitment to let customers make the choice.”

The Evangelical Alliance's Thacker noted, “I think the atheists will love it because it's bashing Christians around the head. It's another thing to take a Christian festival and abuse it.

"Borders wouldn't do this to any other religious festival. Borders [has] made a strategic mistake and Christians will boycott it.”

Jennifer Gold
Christian Post Correspondent

Comments

[Lisa Damian Kidder]

I was raised by a devoutly religious mother, attending church three times a week. She told my brother and I straight from the beginning that there was no Santa Claus because she didn't want such "a game" distracting us from the religious significance behind the birth of Jesus, regardless of the fact that he was not actually born in December at all. She is also offended when people abbreviate X-mas, believing it is an underhanded scheme to remove Christ from this Christian holiday. Despite all her best efforts, she managed to raise me to be an open minded person who respects the religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) of others and lets my kids believe in Santa, and my brother turned out to be gay. Go figure! At any rate, I do not find this the least offensive, and I actually enjoyed a chuckle at it. Of course, I would not have been aware of it if the Baptists had not made a big deal of it, giving it more PR than it would have otherwise received. Everyone should be able to laugh a little at themselves, although I doubt my mother would agree with me in this particular case.

[Wendy]

I'm a Christian, and I'm not offended by this. Everyone is entitled to their own faith and beliefs. If someone wants to be an atheist and write an atheist book with an atheist tag on it - so be it (we ARE a free country with freedom of expression after all). My opinion has been, and always will be - if you don't like something, don't buy it. Our country thrives on consumerism. If the public doesn't support something with their pocketbooks, it will go away. Picketing stores, standing on soapboxes and acting all horrified and offended doesn't work. As a Christian I prefer to live by the "standards" of my faith, not try to convert everyone to my belief. I also want to add that this is very minor, in my opinion...it is not a "real" threat to Christianity. Move on....

[Liz]

It is funny to me that Christians don't find the idea of Santa Claus offensive to Christmas. They worry about all the ridiculous stuff like a satirical card, or the gays, or teen sex... when the real antichrist has interwoven itself in our very being. We call it reckless consumerism.

Merry Wanton Consumerist Orgy one and all!

PS - God is Not Great was one of the WORST books I've EVER read in my life - angry drunk Brit who thinks he's got it all figured out. All he succeeds in doing is proving something we've all known all along: People poison Religion, not the other way around.