Anti-God Starbucks Cup

[AUChizad 0]

Link

What Say You?

[kickerman97 3]

What a bone-head business decision to allow things like that to be printed on something from your business when it's entirely not needed. Your bound to catch flak for it.

[Aubie16 1]

why on earth would that offend her?

does it offend me when I drive past church signs with messages on them? does it offend me when we have a moment of silence before school?

no. people need to grow up and get over themselves.

[aumd03 2]

why on earth would that offend her?

does it offend me when I drive past church signs with messages on them? does it offend me when we have a moment of silence before school?

no. people need to grow up and get over themselves.

The church isn't trying to sell you overpriced coffee. Its smart business stance to remain as neutral as possible. Personally, I find it somewhat insulting that someone would choose to belittle someone else who turns to a supernatural source for support and comfort during a time of crisis. I'm glad this author and starbucks are so much smarter and independent than the rest of us. I guess they will use internal fortitude to overcome the blow to their bottomline from this financial faux pas. Trust me, the people of faith will vote with their wallets in oposition more than athiests will vote in favor.

What's offensive to me is a six dollar cup of coffee.

[BamaGrad03 0]

why on earth would that offend her?

does it offend me when I drive past church signs with messages on them? does it offend me when we have a moment of silence before school?

no. people need to grow up and get over themselves.

Whether you are offended or not, doesn't make it right. In America now, NO ONE has the right to be offended. We have to ACCEPT everything that is Anti-Christian, Anti-Family, etc as some glorious right...otherwise, we are not "tolerant".

Tolerant or not, I have the right to be offended. Especially when I'm PAYING for a cup of coffee from a company that openly endorses calling me an idiot, and belittling my faith. Someone higher up at Starbucks HAD to see this quote. Someone in process control HAD to think for a minute "well this is going to piss off people who believe in God". And they decided to print it anyway.

I'm offended that they don't realize that offending the vast majority of their target demographic...is a poor business strategy.

I'm offended that they feel SO STRONGLY about calling those who believe in a higher power IDIOTS...that they'd be willing to take a potentially HUGE hit on their bottom line for the opportunity to call us stupid. Basically they said, "you know what...people are probably going to stop buying our coffee because of this...but It's more important that we, as a company, tell the 92 percent of Americans who believe in God to piss off, than it is to make money."

[TexasTiger 14,606]

why on earth would that offend her?

does it offend me when I drive past church signs with messages on them? does it offend me when we have a moment of silence before school?

no. people need to grow up and get over themselves.

The church isn't trying to sell you overpriced coffee. Its smart business stance to remain as neutral as possible. Personally, I find it somewhat insulting that someone would choose to belittle someone else who turns to a supernatural source for support and comfort during a time of crisis. I'm glad this author and starbucks are so much smarter and independent than the rest of us. I guess they will use internal fortitude to overcome the blow to their bottomline from this financial faux pas. Trust me, the people of faith will vote with their wallets in oposition more than athiests will vote in favor.

What's offensive to me is a six dollar cup of coffee.

Don't buy it.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Don't buy it

And if every God fearing person took that approach, Starbucks would go out of business.

So don't you think it was a little ridiculous for them to take that chance...JUST to make an Anti-God point?

[TexasTiger 14,606]

Don't buy it

And if every God fearing person took that approach, Starbucks would go out of business.

So don't you think it was a little ridiculous for them to take that chance...JUST to make an Anti-God point?

I don't think any reasonable person who looks at what they're doing concludes that they were making an "Anti-God point." If you look at their website, they have many contributors with points of view folks of all ilks may disagree with, including Rev. Rick Warren, Jonah Goldberg and other regular Joes who are pro-religion. This particular quote is not necessarily even anti-religion. It is actually a rather conservative message of self-reliance:

Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

It raises the point that there may be no God. If that were not a possibility, faith would be meaningless. Faith has meaning because it allows you to believe in things unseen that can't be proven. If your faith is strong, this statement should not be troubling to you.

Starbucks runs the risk of losing the business of folks whose minds are so small they can't handle the idea of those who think differently than they do. Anytime you sponsor any process that is provocative you run that risk. I assume they knew the risks when they engaged in it.

Here's Rick Warren's quote:

The Way I See It #92

"You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny."

-- Dr. Rick Warren

Author of The Purpose-Driven Life.

Some folks liked it, some were offended. They all have the chance to express their views on Starbucks' website:

"The Way I See It" #92 -- Rick Warren (Read the quote)

Thank you for not only an excellent cup of coffee but having the courage to print this quote from Rick Warren on the cup. I believe in the right of each person to honor his or her own philosophy/religion, and many are taking the opportunity provided by our system of free speech in America to do just that. It is especially refreshing and inspirational to see God's name and Mr. Warren's message on a cup of coffee from a company as well-known and loved as Starbucks.

-- Barbara Breitbarth, Burbank CA

I truly enjoy reading the quotes on your cups, as they do spark thought, conversation and debate. Recently my husband and I purchased two drinks, and on his cup was The Way I See It #92. Although I know that these writings are not necessarily the viewpoints of your company, I'm disappointed to see this one on your cup.

Don't get me wrong. I fully believe that it's an inspirational and thought-provoking comment, but I am not a Christian, and I don't appreciate having God's Plan preached to me via my coffee cup. It's one thing to read about someone's point of view, but it's quite another to read a blatantly religious statement informing me that my purpose is to serve God.

Please know that I am a die-hard Starbucks fan, and I enjoy your products several times a week, and have for over 15 years. This misstep will not change that. I just ask that you consider your "The Way I See It" contributions a little more carefully. My concern is not that it may be offensive to folks like me (that's my issue to resolve), but that it may be misconstrued to those who do agree with it – they may mistakenly promote your company to be a proponent of their specific agenda, therefore distancing those who do not share the same viewpoints (members of other religions, agnostics, pagans, and so on). I appreciate your time and consideration, and I am inspired by your willingness to not just sell the world a cup of coffee, but to urge people to think and discuss the issues important to them. -- Denice Paxton, Santa Ana CA

I was appalled to find Rick Warren's God-filled comment on my morning cup of tea. The first sentiment that "You are not an accident" is innocuous enough. It is when Mr. Warren lets the reader know that they are nothing until they have accepted God as their creator that I find offense with.

The wit and wisdom of Starbucks "The Way I See It" is generally something I look forward to. The broad spectrum of people sampled and their remarks on life give me something to ponder for a few minutes with my morning cup of tea. But Mr. Warren's comments are completely out of line. Despite the disclaimer that his comment may not align with company policy, I am disappointed that such a powerful organization would allow these thoughts to be disseminated. Jeers to you, Starbucks, for allowing Mr. Warren to be one of your series commentators. -- Lisa Tennenbaum, San Francisco CA

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/thewayiseeit_letters.asp

Funny how the second commenter says she likes provocative thoughts that foster conversation and debate, BUT not this one about God!

If it so offends you, don't buy it. If it offends you, but not soooo much, express yourself on their website and keep shoveling the caffeine. This is true for believers and non-believers alike.

[CCTAU 3,677]

How bout they print my quote?

"I think Jesus is the only way to heaven and that ALL muslims are going to hell."

Think that would pass?

[DKW 86 7,975]

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help?

If you really have to ask this, then I feel sorry for you. I ABSOLUTELY believe that we are made of three parts. Flesh, Soul, and Spirit. It is a football kind of thing. Flesh is the covering, Soul is the bladder. Spirit is the air inside. If you take away the air, you really have something not quite right for use. Something less than what it could be. In short, your life will have something missing. That huge HOLE most of the rest of humanity looks for their entire life. That Spirit to me is the spirit of God. It is the essential human hunger that has launched billions of lives and wrecked billions more. To decree that mankind is essentially pure or optimised now is nothing more than funny. I can decree to be a world fitness champion, it means nothnig until I can prove it to the rest of the world and nature itself. Without that Spirit in us, we have no guidance nor rudder of our own. We are an incomplete being.

"As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance?"

The one thing I have learned to reject as a viewer of mankind is that mankind is actually 'cognitive' at a high level. Why does mankind make the same sad mistakes over and over? Why do we suffer from addictions? Why do we make huge bad decisions? Why do we spend a large part of our lives doing things we spend the rest of our lives apologizing for and living down? For thousands and thousands of years we have made the same stupid decisions that we make even today. I tell you why, it is because mankind is flawed. We are less than what we could be by birth, education, and even by study. Have we not proved this many times beyond debate? So we are supposed to rely on a record of decison making that we KNOW to be flawed?

"After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

Ah, you answered your own question here. We do indeed 'cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure' due to our flawed nature and history. So we are supposed to rely on that for the basis of rejection of God? We are to now magically get perfection from imperfection? I think you are using more faith than most Christians do at this point...

A mature mind would stop and consider the point the writer makes. In essence the writer wants us to overlook thousands of years of war, strife, killing, murder, stealing, greed, jealousy, anger, etc, etc, etc and just wave the magic wand of 'understanding' and 'enlightenment' and that alone will remove all that from the human condition.

I submit that that is 'anti-cognitive.' Neitzsche would be howling on the floor in laughter for such nonsense. The next inevitable question becomes: Why? Why would mankind spontaneously reject that which is in his nature and do the mental gymnastics to reject what comes naturally? Well the answer is that there is no long sustainable reason. It would be totally illogical to accept anything that goes against our own nature. If for no other reason than it would just waste the time of society as a whole. To go against the very nature of something, even man himself is a collosal waste of time. Should we not reject the writer's philosophy out of hand? Can you determine to make the shark, tiger, wolf, etc non-carnivores? How long would that take to do? How many millions of dollars do we need to waste to see that this is such folly? How Silly! How illogical! Even accepting that mankind is capabkle of cognitive thought, at what level is the whole of mankind capapble? What do we do with those that are not capapble of cognitive thought? What do we do with those that are capapble of Cognitive thought and purposefully choose to make the unacceptable decision? What do we do with those that choose to do wrong even if they know it is wrong according to you? I assure that mankind has a long history of making the wrong decision even in the face of logic and understanding.

Darwinism says that nature is best as it naturally selects what should live on.

Nietzscheanism says that we should accept natural selection and accellerate and help that process along.

Natioanl Socialism says that it is OUR DUTY TO MANKIND to accellerate the process along. If one has the ability to kill a 'lesser' individual and the means to do it, than killing the lesser one should occur. To leave the lesser individual in possesion of capital, land, etc is to waste the ultimate use of that capital, land, etc for the benefit of mankind in the hands of the uber-Mensch. Therefore, it is your duty to kill the lesser and take away from him all that he posseses. Mankind demands it. Logic would demand it.

I am not advocating either one of these ideas. I am totally opposed to each. But would it not make far more sense to embrace man's nature and go forward if Logic or 'Cognitive' thought is the end game of mankind's work? One point to ponder, as I accept that I am flawed and others are flawed as well, then would it not follow that I would be more forgiving of my fellow man? In your belief system, how do you intend to treat those that accept your phiolosophy and yet fail? What is you 'cognitive' answer? Is being flawed acceptable to you? Doesnt being flawed then mean that your decision making abilities will then lead to bad decisions? Are you then not in a circular logic trap?

I fall back to what has worked in the past. I CHOOSE to acknowledge that I and mankind are flawed and need guidnace. I reject the notion that mankind is the ultimate expression of nothing more than the food chain that we are nothjing more than animals. This is something that the writer and I agree on. I choose to accept the sum total of wisdom of thousands of years of mankind, my own personal experiences, and the experiences of those I trust. Instead of proposing to build a life from scratch, to reinvent the wheel as it were, I choose to embrace the wheel of what has worked the best in the past. I choose to follow those people who have influenced mankind the best, my family the best. I choose to model the behavior and believes of those like Mother Theresa and other saints. I choose to do what I see as working rather than to 'reinvent the wheel' for the rest of my life.

If you reject the sum teachings of mankind, than I wish you the best. Religion has served us well, if imperfectly for thousands of years. Have Wars been fought over religion? Of course, but that only goes to ultimately prove my point even more. If those that have embraced that mankind is flawed still make bad decisions, how much so those that think that he is perfect will make even more bad decisions? Marxism and Leninism have at their inception good ideas. Where they fail is in that they refuse to acknowledge that man is flawed and imperfect. If the ultimate leadership is in the hands of corrupt mankind, with no God or threat of God to bridle man's worst, what will come out is indeed man's worst. Crushing of civil rights, mass murder, hunger, starvation, etc are all hallmarks of M-L thinking.

I truly hope that you "stumble" across something that can do better than the what the last several thousands of years have taught. I sincerely doubt that you will. I have come to accept that I am flawed as well as the rest of mankind and that we all need "God" to guide us.

That would be my response. Those that have an answer are not afraid of those that pose a question. I did not mean that this man would be open to hearing anything. Seems to be of a totally closed mind now. He has rejected thousands of years of flaws of man and blamed religion. I can see his point to a degree. But, if one can think on to the next level, what works better? Godlessness has failed, if anything, even worse than God belief. I think man is flawed. Would it not follow that even something that may be perfect would still be flawed when mankind uses it? Can you blame anything that you really cannot see but through ececution by a flawed mankind. Blaming religion for the faults of mankind is really kind of a silly exercise. We are just as flawed with or without religion. With religion, we learn to realize that we are all flawed and to give grace to others.

[TitanTiger 21,665]

I don't have a problem with it. They also have cups with a very pro-God message written by Rick Warren (The Purpose Driven Life) on them. It's just a springboard for discussion, not a statement of belief of the Starbucks Corporation.

[Aubie16 1]

I don't have a problem with it. They also have cups with a very pro-God message written by Rick Warren (The Purpose Driven Life) on them. It's just a springboard for discussion, not a statement of belief of the Starbucks Corporation.

Thats what I was trying to say.

If I go into Starbucks and order a cup of coffee and happen to get one with a message from Rick Warren on it, am I going to contact the local news and raise hell about it? No.

I'll read the quote, might give it a thought or two, and then move on.

If you don't want to buy anything from starbucks anymore because of what they wrote on their cups, thats your business, but don't act like its this big offensive thing that they shouldn't do. Could it be a bad marketing decision? Sure. But thats their decision, not yours.

Is that unfair?

[AUesquire 1]

Atlanta Bread Company's Seattle Roast and House Blend coffees blows all of Starbuck's away. Unless of course you want some kind of foo-foo orange mocha frappucino with two scoops of wheat germ and heavy on the alfalfa sprouts.

[TitanTiger 21,665]

I go to other coffee places...Caribou Coffee, Seattle's Best and so on. I still prefer Starbucks. My favorite is Sumatra but House Blend and Yukon Blend are mighty fine too.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I didn't know they had pro God messages on the cups. Honestly, I think they would have done better to avoid all the potentially pot stirring messages all together.

Since they are all about equal God belief opportunity, I'm willing to rescind my previous venemous statements about the ol 'Bucks.

[kickerman97 3]

I didn't know they had pro God messages on the cups. Honestly, I think they would have done better to avoid all the potentially pot stirring messages all together.

Since they are all about equal God belief opportunity, I'm willing to rescind my previous venemous statements about the ol 'Bucks.

This was my point as well, and as aumd03 said....from a business standpoint neutral is better. There's always someone who doesn't agree with any 'messages' you would print on something. Although also from a business standpoint, bad press is press.

[abrnfanatc 6]

Atlanta Bread Company's Seattle Roast and House Blend coffees blows all of Starbuck's away. Unless of course you want some kind of foo-foo orange mocha frappucino with two scoops of wheat germ and heavy on the alfalfa sprouts.

I know I am a holdout, but for some strange reason, I only like coffee flavored coffee.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Their coffee is good, but good grief at the prices. $3.50 for a cup of frickin' coffee? No thanks. I'll pay .99 for the gas station cappucino that is sweeter and has less foam.

Or I'll just drink a cup or two of black before I leave the house.

[TitanTiger 21,665]

Their coffee is good, but good grief at the prices. $3.50 for a cup of frickin' coffee? No thanks. I'll pay .99 for the gas station cappucino that is sweeter and has less foam.

Or I'll just drink a cup or two of black before I leave the house.

If you're paying $3.50 at Starbucks for a cup of coffee, you need your glasses updated.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

We have a Starbucks at the hospital. I stopped in there one of the first mornings I worked here and got a cappucino with a shot of vanilla. It cost me $3.45 with no tax.

[TitanTiger 21,665]

I didn't know they had pro God messages on the cups. Honestly, I think they would have done better to avoid all the potentially pot stirring messages all together.

Since they are all about equal God belief opportunity, I'm willing to rescind my previous venemous statements about the ol 'Bucks.

Yeah, USA Today had a story on it a while back:

"You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny."

- The Rev. Rick Warren for Starbucks

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005...cks-quote_x.htm

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

For the record, I don't agree with all of Rick Warren's teachings and opinions either.

[TitanTiger 21,665]

We have a Starbucks at the hospital. I stopped in there one of the first mornings I worked here and got a cappucino with a shot of vanilla. It cost me $3.45 with no tax.

Ah, cappuccino. Cup of coffee at SB costs about $1.50 or so depending on the size.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

My bad, I should have clarified. It is still pricey. High quality, I'll give you. But pricey.

[MDM4AU 338]

I am not offended. So they quote someone with a different outlook on things than me. No skin off me? I am around people all day long that I disagree with on a number of things from politics to religion to Auburn Football jerseys. They are entitled to their opinion. I am entitled to my opinion of them and their opinion. This isn't going to change the way things work in America anymore than Chick-fil-A being closed on Sundays. Also, it appears that Starbucks uses a balanced approach, as Titan noted. The world is getting way to sensitive to things, me included. I just try to avoid letting it get to me. Just because some people get offended over the smallest of things doesn't mean that everyone has to. I think the one's who stand the tallest are the one's that can show that they are above this sort of thing. That their beliefs are not dented or weakened by the opposing view.

I also don't buy Starbucks coffee. There is not a convenient location to me for one thing and secondly, I just don't like it. They make that crap so thick. But it's done like that so when all the "cool people" order their double, extra grande, triple syrup, quadruple fat, mocha-caramel, latte with whipped cream on the top, there is still a hint of coffee in there. Give me coffee that will kick start my day but not paint my insides or what ever it happens to spill on.

I wouldn't mind seeing the rebuttal to that cup mentioned, though, that read, "If you live as though there is a God and there isn't... what have you lost? If you live as though there isn't a God and there is... what have you lost?" Don't remember who wrote that but I learned it in Philosophy at AUM.