Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Christians Can't Drink Starbucks Because Company Supports Gay Marriage, Evangelical Says

Coffee-drinking Christians, take note: There's apparently "no way" a truly righteous Christian can drink Starbucks beverages.

At least, that's the opinion of former evangelical pastor and conservative activist David Barton, whose May 19 sermon on pious caffeine consumption was recently posted online.

Speaking at Whitesburg Baptist Church, Barton said that Starbucks was "pouring money" into the destruction of traditional marriage, according to video of the speech.

"The question is, 'Can a Christian give money to a group he knows will use it to attack what God supports?'" Barton said. "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.'"

In January of 2012, Starbucks was one of several companies that publicly supported Washington state's same-sex marriage bill, CNN notes. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz then re-affirmed his company's support for same-sex equality during the annual shareholders meeting in March of 2013.

As a result of the franchise and Schultz' statements, "there's no way a Christian can help support what is attacking God," Barton continued. "I'm sorry, you've got to find some other coffee to drink. You can't drink Starbucks and be Biblically correct on this thing. It's just a real simple principle."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Barton is not the only one who has objected to Starbucks' support of gay marriage.

In March, TheTeaParty.net, a large Tea Party organization, linked to a "Dump Starbucks" boycott site on Facebook, Mediaite reports. As of Monday afternoon, the "Dump Starbucks" website had more than 63,000 pledges.

Barton, meanwhile, has been a clear opponent of gay marriage for several years. In April, Barton claimed that gay marriage is unconstitutional because it goes against "natural law." He has also compared homosexuality to the choice of smoking cigarettes and stated that same-sex marriage is similar to marriage between a horse and a dog.


Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author: Meredith Bennett-Smith

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