It’s a cup. It’d have coffee or hot chocolate or sugar-free fat-free soy latte in it. Then, once all that caffeinated joy had crossed the tongue and winged its happy way to the bloodstream, the cup gets unceremoniously dumped in the nearest trash receptacle, ultimately winding up in a landfill where it slowly, over five to fifteen years, biodegrades. This week, Starbucks unveiled their holiday cup – plain red with their distinctive green and white logo. That means their cups no longer feature prancing reindeer, cheery snowmen, or swirling snowflakes. Whoopedy friggin’ doo.
It’s. A cup. Actually, I find Starbuck’s move to plain cups to be a great avenue to politically correct, unoffensive inspiration. I can see it: The barista takes your order and conversationally asks, “What are you celebrating this season?” You answer “Christmas” or “Hanukkah” or “Winter Solstice,” and the cheery barista writes your name and order on one side of this plain red cup and draws an angel, a menorah, or a wintry tree on the other side. Voila! Every single Starbucks customer gets a cup customized to their religious beliefs and no one can get offended. Everyone’s happy, except maybe for the poor barista who is better at pulling a cappuccino than drawing various holiday icons.
America isn’t a Christian nation (meaning Christianity isn’t the national religion), and Christmas isn’t a regulated national holiday. Christmas is a holy day in which Christ’s followers celebrate his birth and others value the traditions of the season as they spend time with family. However, not everyone celebrates Christmas, nor do they have to. No one can tell a privately owned business how to observe this season. People can rant and rave about me using reindeer in some of my packaging (reindeer aren’t Christian), but since it’s my business that I run my way, I can use whatever I want. Same with Starbucks. What’s the big deal? Their cups are still in Christmas colors.
If you’re a conservative believer who wants to talk with your coffee, then bypass Starbucks altogether. Instead of spending money on overpriced crappy coffee, head over to your local coffee shop, talk to the manager and see if she or he would cut you a deal on coffee. Then grab a few friends and $20 and buy 20 cups of coffee that you then deliver to homeless people. Warm up some people this chilly winter on the inside with good coffee and a bit of kindness. That’s the way you share your beliefs in a coffee cup. Go on. Do it. Don’t wait for some corporate entity to do it for you.
snesbitt
A Mom's Life 
You are missing a major point. Businesses want to make money from the Christmas season without ever mentioning Christmas or even achnowledging that Christmas exists. Actually, they mock Christmas by calling the season Winter Break or Happy Holiday. It sounds so small,
but that is exactly how to get rid of Christianity…an inch at a time until the whole 10 yards is gone.
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OK, so let me get this straight. Christians have taken a wonderful holy day, a day to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world, and have allowed it to become this humongous commercialized spend-fest that is filled with stress and debt and is so far removed from the true meaning as to be indistinguishable from the world’s agenda for what should be. Then, when corporations agree to this crass commercialization, Christians get all mad about it. In the meantime, in our great pluralistic society, we share breathing space with Jews, Muslims, Pagans, and Blacks who have their own holy and special days to celebrate this time of year, some of which includes the exchanging of gifts. It seems to me that people are just being more inclusive; the irony is, Jesus taught and practiced inclusivity as well, so why should it bother us Christians so much? While companies are requiring employees to wish “Happy Holidays,” that doesn’t mean that customers have to wish that in order to shop there. In fact, almost all the store employees I encountered the past few years have joyfully wished me “Merry Christmas” when I’ve wished them that in response to their “Happy Holidays.”
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1. Jesus was not inclusive. John 14:6 “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
2. Real Christians bristle at “Happy Holidays” because it is a deliberate act to push Christmas out of Christmas.
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I agree that Jesus is the only way to God. But the gospel message is inclusive to all. Jesus said in John 3 that God loved the whole world so much that he gave his one and only Son. That’s inclusive! Jesus says later in John (chapter 13 or 14), “A new command I give to you: Love one another.” There’s a period there, not an “if” or a “but.”
Real Christians realize that there are bigger issues than how people greet others at the holidays and the color of coffee cups.
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According to your photo, you are female and the Baptists(SBC) do not have
women ministers. The little “silly stufff.” That’s how Christians lose…ignoring the “silly stuff” …. putting off battles….waiting for the Big War. By standing up to the “silly stuff” … there is no Big War to fight.
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I am female. I’m not a member of the SBC anymore (was raised in a conservative church). I’m a member of a moderate Baptist congregation, and we recognize the call to ministry of both men and women. Who says we need to fight ideas? Where in the Bible does Jesus advocate fighting for our own way? There is poverty to fight and injustice to fight. There is human trafficking and children being sold as sex slaves. Compared to coffee cups and holiday greetings, these are actually important issues.
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Well we need to “fight the ideas” of islam, atheists, etc. They no longer sit it out quietly…they are very loud and convincing to the uninformed. “Not all Christians are haters….and get bent out of shape” !!?? There are ZERO Christian haters….hating is not Christian. I see a lot of hating of Christians, and if you are a real Christian, you would make that point to your atheist friend.
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I can engage in dialogue, but the point at which you start judging me [“if you are a real Christian”], then the conversation is over, because then it’s no longer healthy dialogue. Plus, it’s hypocritical of you, because Jesus says in Matthew 7, “Don’t judge people, unless you also want to be judged. You will be judged with the same measure you use to judge others.” I could Bible thump all day long, but without my actions to back it up, then it falls on deaf ears. However, if I show Christ’s love to all people, including those outside my faith, then they begin to open up to the gospel message of love.
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War on Christmas. You are not helping the Christian cause by trying to pretend there is no war on Christmas. By telling readers that you are a minister and then find ways to ignore the war on Christmas that real Christians can readily see…you are encouraging the enemies of Christianity to believe we are just fools who cannot recognize the enemy.
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What does Jesus say in Matthew 5:44ff? “Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.” The sun shines on faithful, church-going Christians just as it does on the corporate offices of Starbucks. And the rain falls on my church and on their CEO’s garden. If we love our enemies, then how can there be war against them? But, please, live out your faith. Go stand in front of Starbucks and pray for their executive staff in Seattle and their baristas in shops all across the world. Just be sure you pray loudly enough to be heard over the Christmas music inside. And while you’re doing that, totally ignore the hungry woman in the streets or the homeless veteran in the alley, because it’s apparent you’d rather tilt at windmills than live out the commands of Jesus to feed his sheep, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick, to shelter the homeless.
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I can tell by your comments that Christianity is not at the top of your list of what is important. Christians are focused on Christmas and it is never Christian to mix Christianity with other religions. Anything that pagans, muslims and kwaanza worshippers celebrate is not “holy.”
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ROFLMBO!!! I’m a Christian minister – Baptist, specifically. I grew up in the church, went to a Baptist university and seminary, and answered the call from God to minister to all people, regardless of their professed faith. Why? Because it’s through loving all people and ministering to their needs that hearts get opened up to the work of the Holy Spirit. Nope, “Christianity” as it’s portrayed in the media and by exclusionist types isn’t a priority. My relationship with God and my love for all of God’s created people is. I can acknowledge that another faith’s traditions and beliefs are important to its followers without undermining my own faith, because that becomes a way to reach people. The Apostle Paul used other’s religious beliefs as a lead-in to tell them about Christ. I have a friend who’s Atheist who, just from my being loving and compassionate and accepting of people as children of God has come to know that not all Christians are ridiculous haters who get all bent out of shape over silly stuff. That means she’s one step (or more!) closer to knowing Christ.
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