This week I came across this headline ‘Activist Urges Faithful to Boycott Starbucks.’
Recently Conservative Activist David Barton spoke at the tragically named, ‘Whitesburg Baptist Church’ in Huntsville, Alabama. Speaking about the topic of Gay Marriage, Barton said this, "The question is, 'Can a Christian give money to a group he knows will use it to attack what God supports? If you know that when you buy a cup of Starbucks, 5, 10, 15 cents is going to be used to defeat marriage, can you do that? The answer is 'no.' You can’t drink Starbucks and be biblically right.’ ”
I think it is time to boycott boycotts, and here’s why:
- Boycotts rarely achieve their stated goals.
- Boycotts are almost always self-serving. Even failed boycotts are viewed as successful- because they add credibility and status to the leader of the boycott.
- Boycotts tempt Christians into using economic and commercial methods to accomplish spiritual goals.
- Boycotts paint Christians as reactionary, fear-based, and short-sighted.
Followers of God have long battled the Siren’s call of using earthly power to accomplish spiritual goals. Consistently the Scriptures show God urging His people to reject earthly power and human alliances and instead trust fully in Him. Maybe instead of protesting, Christians should try modeling Christ to a world in desperate need of authentic Christ followers. By rejecting the power-over model used effectively by groups and alliances -Christians should embrace path of downward-mobility modeled by Christ.
Maybe instead of boycotting Starbucks, we should pick up the tab of the person behind us in line...
Maybe it is time to boycott, boycotts...
3 comments:
Good comments!! This seems to be an issue that is constantly in front of us. This could apply not just to boycotts but extend to other techniques people use to create a "christian" world/nation.
Ultimately our efforts will always fail, but I have read the end of the book and He wins!
One item that most people who want us to boycott something do not take into consideration is all the people they potentially hurt. What about the Christians who work for Starbucks? If we are going to boycott Starbucks, what about all the companies that supply Starbucks? Where does it end? And who are glorifying by boycotting Starbucks? Jesus, or the person who stated the boycott? Just wondering.
Absolutely agree! What a wise and timely post. Instead of continually trying to hit those we may disagree with in the pocketbook, we need to model the love of Jesus. We need to worry less about making an economic impact and more about making an eternal impact.
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