Millennials, Starbucks, and Identity

on November 10, 2015

Logging on to social media this morning, I was inundated with posts about Starbucks opting to sell their coffee in simple red cups instead of Christmas-themed ones. Millennial Christians were responsible for many of these posts, almost universally supportive of Starbucks and opposing Christians who were supposedly offended. To me, this spoke volumes about my generation’s commitment to achieving cultural acceptance above valuing their fellow Christians.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented that few non-Christians “are actually offended by Christmas celebration in public life.” Celebrating Christmas “elevates the human spirit and points to the divine,” wrote Tooley.

It would certainly be nice to see Starbucks wholeheartedly celebrate Christmas, but I’m not particularly offended by the company’s cup decision. I sense many other Christians feel the same way. Starbucks is free to do what it likes.

That being said, I’m concerned that many of my millennial friends feel the need to defend Starbucks and condemn the small handful of Christians who do seem to be offended. Why does a liberal corporate behemoth need us to shield it from a few of our fellow believers?

My guess is that most Millennials don’t actually subscribe to the absurd belief that Starbucks needs their protection. No, I think their public declarations have more to do with presenting a particular image of themselves to their friends: open-minded, tolerant, and accepting. In other words, not bigoted or controversial.

What’s worrying about this is that many Millennials end up trampling over their fellow Christians in their haste to stake out the middle ground. I wonder if it’s really worthwhile to bash a small minority of other Christians to score favor points with the rest of our non-Christian friends.

Perhaps Starbucks has only offended a small fraction of Christians. And perhaps these Christians are being overly sensitive.

But even if this is so, why do the rest of us feel the need to throw them under the bus? Maybe it makes us feel better about ourselves. However, our true friends hopefully already know we aren’t raging, easily-offended religious zealots.

I was talking to some older and wiser staff at IRD recently. They expressed concern that Christian Millennials were perfectly willing to speak out on culturally acceptable social justice issues, but often ignored the plight of their persecuted brothers and sisters.

Sadly, Millennials seem ready to defend the rights of many minorities and disadvantaged groups, just not Christians. They’ll stick up for viewpoints they disagree with, except for Christian opinions they don’t like.

Yes, we should call out Christians when they say stupid stuff. But why squash a few Christians for expressing their personal opinions?

Our primary calling as Christians isn’t to garner fans on social media. However, we’re clearly commanded to remain united as believers. I say let’s keep first things first.

  1. Comment by Michael Bullock on November 21, 2015 at 8:02 pm

    Starbucks was offensive long before this latest outbreak. I support Christian values by not purchasing their products. I suspect that those you refer to do not want to give up the coffee. McDonalds serves a mean caramel latte according to my wife. We do get caught up in the advertising gimmicks ala Apple.

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