‘Tis The Season….To Cut Christ Out of Christmas?

With festive coffee cups in plain red, Staburcks has been accused of sleighing into Christmas and cutting baby Jesus out of the picture.

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JONATHAN TAGLE asked Eli Del Rosario, a Christian pastor and Starbucks supervisor from East London, for his views on the red cup controversy.

When Starbucks unveiled its festive red cups, not everyone was thrilled with the new design. Joshua Feuerstein, an Arizona-based evangelist, posted a Facebook video-gone-viral accusing the giant coffee chain of cutting out avowedly Christmas patterns because the company ‘hates Jesus’.

On twitter the hashtag ‘itsjustacup’ flooded the timeline.

The controversy extended beyond the internet and into the realm of politics when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a boycott.

When I entered Westfield Starbucks to meet counter supervisor Eli Del Rosoario, besides the shelves stacked with red cups I could not help noticing that a nearby Christmas tree remained bare and unadorned. Another instance of Starbucks stripping out Christmas? More likely, no one quite got round to putting the decorations up.

I’m hoping my interviewee will be able to settle such questions once and for all.

My latte is still fresh when Eli arrives, dishing out free Starbucks drinks cards and dressed casually smart in a long navy coat.

Eli is a graduate of the International Bible Institute of London, and a youth pastor and worship leader at his local evangelical church. He works at the Starbucks in Gloucester Road, but he is a long-term resident of East London.

Do you like the new red cups? 

I personally likes the design graphically, such as the simplicity of the red and green logo.

Why do you think Starbucks has chosen such a minimal design? 

Perhaps because it’s cheaper, or maybe it fits with further re-branding.

As a believer in Christ, how do you feel about this? 

I am personally not offended, it is not a big deal to me whether there is Santa or reindeers on the cup, or nothing at all. As a Christian it does not affect my faith, well at least it shouldn’t.

I believe that people are so used to seeing festive designs on the cup and because this year’s model is different from what they are used to, they cannot handle the change. I can understand why some people are offended, but I think it shouldn’t be a big issue – just be happy and celebrate it as a Christian holiday.

What do you think of the CEO’s reported intentions? 

If he is being anti-Christian, then it would be kinda sad. Whatever your religion, you can’t run a business excluding certain people.

I would be out the door out if I thought there was a real attempt to exclude the Christian religion. However for us Christians, just because a company doesn’t rate Christian values as highly as we do, doesn’t mean we should respond in anger.

How have customers reacted, in your store or anywhere? 

Customers from my branch have said, “Oh. red cups, that’s nice”.

In the UK, it is not such a big issue but there is more controversy in America. Americans, I believe, are more outwardly expressive, causing more people to respond.

What do you think about boycotting Starbucks? 

I find it laughable because there’s no real reason to. They haven’t done anything overtly, just change the colour of the cup. As Christians, the first thing in our life is God and we shouldn’t let anything affect that.

Bringing it back to the bible, it does say “we will be rejected”. With this in mind, our faith should be strong, no matter what’s being said by other sections of society.

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