War against Christmas

Mall apologizes, reverses policy on Christian hymns, carols

Within hours of yesterday's AFA Action Alert exposing the University Town Center Mall's memo to groups, the Sarasota, Florida mall has reversed its policy and apologized for the snafu.

"The materials created and distributed by a third party company relating to the hiring of performance groups for UTC were not reviewed by UTC staff in advance of distribution," said a mall statement yesterday afternoon.  

"These materials do not in any way represent an existing center policy or viewpoint. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused within the Sarasota community."

 A spokesperson for the mall now says that Christmas hymns and carols that are "Christian" in nature will be allowed.

Earlier this week, a company representing the mall sent a memo out to area groups who are normally invited to perform seasonal music. In it, the mall indicated it desired a cleansing of religious music by stating, "For choral groups, the Mall prefers no clearly recognizable Christian music, such as carols sung in English, spirituals or gospel."

Thanks to your efforts, and with God’s help, we made a difference. The UTC Mall error has been corrected.

But the War on Christmas 2016 is just starting. As the Christmas season approaches, there will be more attempts by companies to drop Christ from Christmas. Now you can proclaim the truth wherever you go.

Support the continued work of AFA while reminding others to "Keep Christ in Christmas" with these Christmas wristbands. Order your pack of 10 (or more) today!

Tim Wildmon, President American Family Association