Is supporting Starbucks sinful?

[OnlyAmbrose]

Oh my goodness… the irony that my youth ministry holds Bible study at Starbucks every Wednesday. I’ll bring this to the attention of my youth minister… I’m gonna miss my frapps

 

[Durendin]

In Britian you can get a cup of coffee for 79 pence from Wetherspoons. Nowadays you can also get a beer for 1.50 at nine O’Clock in the morning from them. Now I know that Starucks donate to Planned Parenthood, I don’t think I’ll patronise them again.

And be honest, like me you’d rather have the Guinness anyway?

I always thought that there was something fundamentally wrong about paying so much for a coffee in Starbucks. Felt a bit sinister? Gut feeling was right I suppose.

 

[criffton]

I generally don’t like Starbucks, not a big fan of them, but then again, I am generally anti-big business. I would say to support things like Firefox, Linux, OpenOffice, and your local coffee shop, the local one in town is awesome, really good coffee, and it is run by a Catholic couple. Also, get Equal Exchange Coffee, it is the best for the coffee producers.

However, in defense of Starbucks, they treat their employees very well, and donate to many things in the community. But once again, support good coffee and local business. And learning how to make it yourself is good as well.

 

[Viki59]

I don’t see how it’s sinful. Planned Parenthood does have the facilites to perfom abortions but that is not the only function of the organization. .

It was founded by a racist, Margaret Sanger, who promoted eugenics, admired Hitler’s policies of exterminating the “unfit”, and was deceptive in her use of black ministers to promote abortion among black people.
PP continues to follow her policies today, for example putting its clinics in minority areas to appeal to minority youth.
PP doesn’t perform free abortions, true. They are staffed by people who I am sure are compassionate and believe they are doing the right thing by helping women who aren’t ready to be parents.
The only trouble is those women are already parents – their only choice is whether they want to be mother to a live baby or a dead one. PP does not advocate adoption, though they may give lip service to the idea. And it aids and abets child molesters – who can take their victim across state lines for an abortion, without parental permission, and be sure they won’t be reported to the police by PP.
They are a bad outfit and I would not give them a cent. I pray that their employees realize what they are doing, as Bernard Nathanson did, and turn their lives around.

 

[HailMary]

I recently learned that Starbucks is a major corporate contributor to Planned Parenthood, which as we all know, encourages abortion. Knowing that, what is your opinion on whether patroning Starbucks is sinful? I know how I feel, but I’m interested in other’s opinion.

The answer to this question, and more generally, is it depends. If the money you are giving directly goes towards an abortion, then it is a grave sin. However, in the case of star bucks, you cannot tell.

Let me give you an example with better illustrates this point. You hav ea 401K or some stock program, or mutual fund. You pour money into it every paycheck. The money that the banks get is invested into other companies that may or may not support immoral things. Your duty as a Christian is to the direct results of your actions, since that is what you have control over.

Another example is the buying or selling of pornography. The direct result of buying is promotion of the porn industry and of selling is the promotion of the porn industry. The dispensing of contraception is the same concept.

If Planned Parenthood starts selling coffee, its probably a sign to learn how to make your own

 

[runandsew]

I recently learned that Starbucks is a major corporate contributor to Planned Parenthood, which as we all know, encourages abortion. Knowing that, what is your opinion on whether patroning Starbucks is sinful? I know how I feel, but I’m interested in other’s opinion.

No it is not a sin, since it is an indirect involvement
The same is true for 401 K investments.

But should you buy their products, that is up to you, If you feel the urge not buy their products, because of their support of Planned Parenthood, then you need to write the board of directors. (You could probably find this information on their corporate website, They might not ever see it, but the people who open the mail will, and who knows, maybe the person in the mail room might have a conscience and might somehow get it to the person.

 

[Melissa]

Yes! What Starbucks does to innocent coffee beans is sinful.

Seriously, though, if you want to drink over-priced, poorly-prepared, polluted coffee–it’s not a sin because any financial involvement is many steps separated–you cannot control what people do with your money after you have spent it, whether at Starbucks, the mom & pop diner on the corner, or wherever else you may spend money on food/drink.

 

[runandsew]

Also, they can be very rude there, I went in and asked for a cup of foldgers, and they looked at me like I was wierd.

 

[shannyk]

First of all, in defense of Starbucks’ COFFEE ( not the company itself), I do find their coffee to be far superior to that of ANY grocery store brand (Flogers etc. ) which to me tastes like burnt water. Yes some of the varieties Starbucks sells are very darkly roasted, but when made properly (which is hard to do) tastes very good IMHO.

Having said that, I certainly would consider drinking coffee in the first place to be non-necessary, and getting it from Starbuck’s or any other fancy schmancy coffee place classifies as an extravagance. When you know what you really need in life and what is fluff it’s much easier to avoid Starbuck’s and the like.

My question is how far should we take this? I mean, should I not pay taxes because I know the government funds embryonic stem cell research? I think paying taxes would fall under remote material cooperation. I think Jimmy Akin blogged about this subject awhile back…

jimmyakin.org/2004/09/what_ratzinger_.html