By Ariana QueenanSTAFF WRITER
According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center last year, 70.6 percent of Americans identify as Christian. With less than 40 days left until Christmas, both companies and consumers are working feverishly to prepare for the holiday season. Unfortunately, businesses such as Starbucks and the Roosevelt Field Mall have made it their missions to take Christ out of Christmas this holiday season.
Starbucks recently released their 2015 holiday cups that featured nothing more than a red two-tone ombre design. The disposable coffee cups are usually adorned with winter holiday images. For example, last year’s cup featured snowflakes and trees. Even though Starbucks has never released a cup with an image that explicitly represents the Christian faith, the plain red cups were enough to have Christians speak out against “the war on Christmas.”
In a video posted to Facebook, self-proclaimed evangelist Joshua Feuerstein told his followers that Starbucks “hates Jesus.” He also encouraged each of his followers to tell the baristas that their name is “Merry Christmas” so that every barista would be forced to write “Merry Christmas” on the cups. Outraged Christians began venting their frustrations on Twitter using #MerryChristmasStarbucks.
Simon Malls have sparked a similar outrage when they replaced the Christmas tree in some locations with a glacier. Among those locations was Roosevelt Field Mall that posted on its official Facebook account, “The idea that we eliminated Christmas trees in order to not offend anyone is simply not true. We love Christmas and the holidays and our goal is to be a part of the holiday experience for our guests.” The idea that Simon Malls are looking to profit off of Christmas – without including the tree – is ludicrous since Santa Claus and a Christmas tree having nothing to do with the birth of Jesus.
These red coffee cups are not a matter of life or death, yet many are choosing to stand in solidarity against Starbucks instead of choosing to rally around a cause that Jesus would choose to be concerned with. Being upset about the red cup displays a lack of priorities and disregard for the basic principles of Christianity. Luke 3:11 says, “And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’” Jesus wants to know what you did for the poor, not that he can now order his Caramel Brulee Latte with a double shot of espresso in a cup adorned with polar bears.
Nor does he care if your child takes a picture with Santa in front of a glacier or a Christmas tree. The Bible states “You shall have no other Gods before me,” so if Christians want a display that truly represents Christmas they would demand a nativity set and not a Christmas tree with a figure created to commercialize Christmas. The passion that fuels the outrage for the red cups is misplaced, unwarranted and a complete waste of time. America has much more pertinent issues to deal with such as police brutality, ISIS, gentrification, mass incarceration, illegal immigration and the war on drugs. Each of these issues affects us all directly or indirectly yet none have received as much immediate attention as the cups. This is not an issue of a company trying to be politically correct, but about a group of people who want to be angry for all the wrong reasons.
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