CafePress Removes Hateful Prayer Merchandise

Christian vendors using CafePress' print on demand merchandise to market hateful prayers against President Obama and his family are going to have to design their wares elsewhere.   On Friday, staff posted the following message:

This morning we made the decision to remove all Psalms 109:8 designs from CafePress.

The public debate started with questioning if the design was simply intended to be criticism of the President or something much worse. The discourse was surprisingly civil online, given the heated nature of the topic. Given that, and the positions of groups like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, we decided to let the dialogue play out publicly before making a final decision.

Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we've received and weighed the nature of the calls we've received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

We try to create an atmosphere of self-expression. Many of the things we encounter are not black and white, but grey. When the dialogue is civil, we want to let the larger community work things out rather than making an uninformed ruling. The dialogue has played out and common sentiment has reached agreement — this merchandise is not appropriate.

Thank you all for your input.

CafePress notes that with the volume of content added to the site on a daily basis, it might miss some of the merchandise but will remove it as soon as it is discovered.

Sphere: Related Content

Related posts:

1. Catholic College Removes Birth Control from Health Care Plan
2. Muslim Prayer Day and the Christian Right's Prayer Crusade
3. Preparation for Passover – Rabbi Removes Notes to God from the Western Wall
4. National Day of Prayer Commentary
5. NC Religious Group Fights Prayer Decision
6. Arab Woman Blasts Islam and Supernatural, Hateful Beliefs
7. Dobsons Will Not Be Invited to the White House for the National Day of Prayer
8. Using the Bible to Spread Religious Hate
9. Father Guilty in Wisconsin Prayer Death Case
10. Maryland AG Opines that Religious Garb is Open to Security Searches

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

IMPORTANT NOTE: We welcome and encourage comments. However, we are receiving many 'junk comments' from people looking for back links. As of noon, November 16, 2009, comment submission authors must use a name. For example, names such as 'Payday Loans' or 'Home Accessories' will be deleted. You may continue to link to your website, but we want names (pen names are all right). Additionally, only substantive comments that have to do with the content of the article will be accepted. Comments such as 'Nice post, thanks,' will be deleted. Comments that link to pornographic or hate sites will also be deleted.

Website

By submitting a comment here you grant this site a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. While we offer immediate approval of comments that are not screened as spam, we reserve the right to delete your comment pursuant to the site's terms, conditions and policies. GOD DISCUSSION RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DELETE OR EDIT COMMENTS FOR ANY REASON, WITHOUT NOTICE, including without limitation grammar errors, "trolling" and spamming.

Security Code: