Are Starbucks Red Cups Anti-Christian??

Remember how we ironically celebrated the return of Starbucks Red Cups and the official beginning of the holiday shopping season? It turns out that means we hate Jesus.

Sorry, Jesus.

Some conservative Christian groups are upset that the cup is only red this year, instead of displaying Christmassy symbols like pine trees, holly and reindeer. It all started with an article by Raheem Kassam, the editor of Breitbart London, with the headline “WAR ON CHRISTMAS: STARBUCKS RED CUPS ARE EMBLEMATIC OF THE CHRISTIAN CULTURE CLEANSING OF THE WEST.”

Here’s the part where I point out that evergreen trees and reindeer are symbols from pagan winter solstice festivals that early Christians co-opted into their holiday, and don’t really have anything to do with Jesus.

 

Evangelical personality Joshua Feuerstein posted a video to Facebook where he claims to have “tricked” Starbucks into wishing him a Merry Christmas by buying their products and telling them his name is “Merry Christmas” so they’ll write it on the cup. I don’t see how this hurts them in any way, but he seems to be having fun – probably because he’s amped from all the coffee he’s drinking.

 

A Starbucks employee commented on Clifford Stumme’s blog that the company has not given any directives on whether or not they can say “Merry Christmas” to customers.