Lifeway Christian Store is anti-Catholic

[pianistclare]

Again, I had no idea it was a Southern Baptist store.

I used Siri on my iPhone to find a religious items shop. This Lifeway was closer and I had never been in it before. I wasn’t expecting it to be a St. Peter’s square giftshop/vendor. I presumed they would have a small turnstyle case of some Catholic medals on a counter. Maybe a few Catholic books for sale, and possibly an oversized Crucifix.

It’s simple and surprising mistake. To call me out that I’m not educated on it is taking it to an unnecessary level.

I don’t think he meant it as an insult. But being religious can mean a zillion things.
When searching, always specify Catholic.
Depending on what area you live in, there may not be any Catholic gift shops. There are none here. That’s why I shop mostly online for such things. Sometimes though, larger parishes have gift shops. You might try there.

 

[Isca]

Christian shops in the UK (which are normally bookshops which sell other items too) are virtually always non-Catholic - they might have a couple of Catholic books at the most.

I get Catholic books and other religious items at church or online.

 

[DaveBj]

I am saddened and surprised to hear this about Lifeway. I wonder how long ago these stores were taken over by the SBC. I used to live in a small town where the only Christian store was Lifeway and they had a pretty decent Catholic section. I purchased many gifts there for special Catholic occasions like Confirmation and First Communion- and even bought a good amount of Christmas gifts there! In my former town, at least, the Catholic Church didn’t have a gift shop and Lifeway was my only source for medals, crucifixes, etc. unless I ordered online. I am sorry that the SBC took over these stores, and I agree with the OP- the removal of all things Catholic from a Christian bookstore is decidedly anti-Catholic. If they only want to carry Baptist things, they should change their name to Lifeway BAPTIST Store.

Lifeway has always been SBC.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeWay_Christian_Resources

In 1891, J. M. Frost, a 43-year-old pastor, started the company that is now known as LifeWay Christian Resources. The business began, after receiving approval from the Southern Baptist Convention, in a small office funded in part by money borrowed from his wife. Later that year, it became the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, with Frost as its first executive secretary (now called president).

snip

LifeWay’s ministries include the production of Bibles, church literature, audio and video recordings, church supplies, and Internet services. The company operates over 186 LifeWay Christian Stores through the United States, as well as one of the largest Christian conference centers in the country.

 

[punisherthunder]

In any case, I’m contacting the company to pursue this. I’m not trying to belittle them, but I do want an honest answer.

I will post on here what they tell me.

 

[Neofight]

This is very interesting, especially in light of an earlier thread about Indiana having a bill signed into law by their governor that made it legal for businesses to refuse service to gays and lesbians as an act of religious freedom.

To those who thought it was a good idea, it seems to me, if a Baptist businessman doesn’t want to sell Catholic items, or even sell to a Catholic, it is just an expression of religious freedom, and those same people, should surely support the SBC’s religious freedom to do so.

Peace and all good!

 

[ltwin]

If they only want to carry Baptist things, they should change their name to Lifeway BAPTIST Store.

This is silly. Just because they have “Christian” in their name does not mean they have to meet everyone else’s expectation for what a “Christian” bookstore should sell. The SBC owns the business,and it gets to define what “Christian” is in its denominational bookstore chains.

The mainline churches support homosexual marriage. Should Lifeway sell books advocating same-sex Christian marriage? Mormons claim to be Christians. Should Lifeway sell materials that advocate Mormonism. Some Christians believe that infant baptism is a good thing. Should Lifeway Christian support infant baptism just because it fails to add “Southern Baptist” to its name?

“Catholic” means “universal.” Should I, as a Pentecostal Christian, expect the Catholic Bookstore to be ecumenical in its offerings as the representative of the “universal” varieties of Christianity? Does your Universal Church parish shop sell any literature written by Bennny Hinn?

I mean, how far are we really gonna take this?

 

[Matthew_Light]

This is silly. Just because they have “Christian” in their name does not mean they have to meet everyone else’s expectation for what a “Christian” bookstore should sell.

I just think if one means by “Christian” “Southern Baptism” one ought to say it. That would be the honest thing to do.

 

[ltwin]

I just think if one means by “Christian” “Southern Baptism” one ought to say it. That would be the honest thing to do.

No it isn’t. There is absolutely nothing dishonest about Lifeway calling itself “Christian”. It is Christian. Even more, they aren’t just Southern Baptist. They are owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, but they market themselves to the broader evangelical community.

I call myself a Christian. That does not mean I agree with all other Christians in the world or that I commit to represent and speak and provide educational materials representing all other Christian viewpoints and doctrines.

No “Christian” anything commits to represent every “Christian” something that exists in the world.

The Lifeway chain calls itself “Christian.” That isn’t false advertising, and it isn’t anti-Catholicism unless they actually sell anti-Catholic books and products. If you don’t like what they sell or do not sell in their stores don’t patronize them. It’s that simple.

 

[Matthew_Light]

No it isn’t. There is absolutely nothing dishonest about Lifeway calling itself “Christian”. It is Christian. Even more, they aren’t just Southern Baptist. They are owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, but they market themselves to the broader evangelical community.

But not Catholics. For some reason. Catholics are told that they are NOT wanted when they ask about specifically Catholic items.

I didn’t say the owners should be forced to respect the Christianity of Catholics.

I just said it is offensive and divisive for them not to do so.

If you want to run a bookstore that caters to “evangelical” Christians and not Catholics, you should make that clear.

I for one had no idea that the local Lifeway store I drive by once a month or so would treat Catholics in that way. I’ve never been in it, but I had the idea that they would be encouraging to all Christians and not snub half of the world’s Christians like that.

Of course, they have the right to be narrow-minded and divisive and tell Catholics they are not wanted. That doesn’t make it anything Christ would approve of, though, any more than He approves of the separation between white and African Americans in churches on Sundays.

It frankly shocks me to see Christians treat other Christians in that shabby way. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.

"Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. " - Matthew 7:21

 

[Brandon_Cal]

It’s simple and surprising mistake. To call me out that I’m not educated on it is taking it to an unnecessary level.

Most of us taking issue with your OP are not doing so because you didn’t have the foreknowledge that Lifeway doesn’t carry Catholic merchandise. We’re doing so because you hysterically called them anti-Catholic for doing so.

In any case, I’m contacting the company to pursue this. I’m not trying to belittle them, but I do want an honest answer.

I will post on here what they tell me.

After you do that be sure to send a letter to your local Catholic Bishop asking why the diocese is so anti-Protestant as to not offer courses in how to convert to Lutheranism in their Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program, and let us know the response you get.

 

[SalusaSecondus]

I went to my local Catholic bookstore and attempted to buy a copy of the Lutheran confessions. I was shocked to find they didn’t have it.

The clerk told me that this was a Catholic bookstore and they didn’t carry anything Protestant related in the store.

A privately owned Catholic bookstore not carrying anything Protestant related…at all? What gives?

Are these bookstore just there waiting to anti me?

 

[St_Pancake]

I’m in Atlanta which is light years ahead of Tennessee as far as having a Catholic population. Most “Christian” shops in this area are not going to carry a significant amount of “Catholic” merchandise because it will not sell.

There is nothing deceptive about the business and you were not harmed in any way. No harm now foul.

btw, as a former Southern Baptist, more power to them. One of our Bishops here grew up a Southern Baptist too and as he says, “They are a God loving people and I’ll never forget how they taught me to love Jesus”.

 

[schaeffer]

Additionally, the Lifeway store used to sell and abundance of Catholic related items. Yet as the salesman informed me, the SBC chose to remove all Catholic items from the store. He told me that he gets inquiries like mine weekly. Frankly he was jaded from it and I could tell the way he spoke about the SBC changing everything up in the store. He himself told me that it wasn’t fair to exclude Catholics and was deeply sorry. He even tried referring me to a mom and pop Christian store to find some medals, alas they didn’t have any either because they told me they only “carry the crosses” the don’t sell them.

This doesn’t appear to be shabby treatment or snubbing. The clerk appears to have been respectful, and as helpful as he could be.

I understand your feeling upset that the store does not carry Catholic specific items. They likely don’t carry items specific to any faith other than Southern Baptist. That still leave many items and resources that would be useful to most Christians.

Privately owned businesses are not duty bound to carry items that conflict with their particular personal or religious interests so as not to “offend” people of other beliefs. Laws are being passed to change this, and many people lament them and consider them challenges to religious freedom.

I can understand your feeling upset and offended, but I do not believe that the store or company acted in any way inappropriate.

 

[pnewton]

I sometimes shop at this and other Christian (not Catholic) stores. They have their purposes, though obviously most of the books and all of the Bibles are of no interest. We had a Christian bookstore for years and years and they carried an assortment of Catholic specific items, along with Jack Chick tracts, of course. Selling everything is as good as being restrictive.

 

[DeniseNY]

I went to my local Catholic bookstore and attempted to buy a copy of the Lutheran confessions. I was shocked to find they didn’t have it.

The clerk told me that this was a Catholic bookstore and they didn’t carry anything Protestant related in the store.

A privately owned Catholic bookstore not carrying anything Protestant related…at all? What gives?

Are these bookstore just there waiting to anti me?

 

[punisherthunder]

People are missing the bigger picture here…

The salesman/manager told me that they used to carry Catholic items. The SBC made a corporate decision to stop carrying Catholic items completely. The salesman told me that he felt bad about it because he said it didn’t show good faith.

So at one time they sold them, then mysteriously drop them. I doubt all Catholic items in the store were from one company/supplier.

And for those of you suggesting I inflame and troll the local parishes wanting to know why they don’t carry Protestant items, you are being childish and unproductive in your examination of the scene.

 

[robertmidwest]

The salesman/manager told me that they used to carry Catholic items. The SBC made a corporate decision to stop carrying Catholic items completely.

So?

As one other poster stated they probably had a hard time selling Catholic items. Their target market is evangelicals. They were probably getting stuck with inventory.

Secondly why would you expect them to carry items that promote something they don’t believe in in the first place?

 

[Wampa]

While it’s clear from people’s postings that some “Christian”-labeled bookstores sell Catholic items (and that Lifeway did at one point), I’d posit that the overwhelming majority in the United States don’t. I’ve never seen a Catholic item in any of the many such stores I’ve entered in my life.

In the US, when Christian is used as a label without any additional denominational descriptors, it pretty much means Protestant or sometimes specifically Evangelical. I’d never expect to find Catholic items in a “Christian bookstore”. Nor would I ever expect to hear Catholic music on a contemporary Christian radio station. That’s just not what the words means in commerce in the US.

Lifeway sounds like they made a business decision that fits them snugly within the majority of like-situated businesses. Finding Catholic animus here is not reasonable IMO.

 

[St_Pancake]

People are missing the bigger picture here…

The salesman/manager told me that they used to carry Catholic items. The SBC made a corporate decision to stop carrying Catholic items completely. The salesman told me that he felt bad about it because he said it didn’t show good faith.

So at one time they sold them, then mysteriously drop them. I doubt all Catholic items in the store were from one company/supplier.

And for those of you suggesting I inflame and troll the local parishes wanting to know why they don’t carry Protestant items, you are being childish and unproductive in your examination of the scene.

So, they did carry the items and now they don’t. What’s the problem with that?

For whatever reason, that’s their right to decide what to sell and what not to sell. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t that important and nothing that you’ve described would make them an “anti” Catholic.

Perhaps you can start your own store and sell Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant items. If the demand is there, you should make the money.

 

[SteveVH]

So?

As one other poster stated they probably had a hard time selling Catholic items. Their target market is evangelicals. They were probably getting stuck with inventory.

Secondly why would you expect them to carry items that promote something they don’t believe in in the first place?

Exactly. When I go to Christian bookstore it is always a Catholic bookstore for the simple reason that I do not expect a Protestant bookstore to carry the great Catholic authors and certainly no rosaries or crucifixes or statues if I am looking for a gift. Why should they?

Where I did become a little sick to my stomach was when I went to the miraculous circular staircase which is located very close to the Cathedral in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is a staircase that was built for the nuns by a mysterious man who appeared one day looking for work, and when finished, he was nowhere to be found. To this day, engineers cannot explain how it stands. Long story short, the nuns could no longer afford to keep the chapel and it was sold to some non-Catholics who now run the gift shop associated with it. What you will find now is the KJV on the shelf in place of Catholic Bibles, and nearly everything that was Catholic has been removed. I am amazed that the Diocese of Santa Fe did not take it over and preserve it. It makes me sick because it was very Catholic. Now there is a sign in the front of it that reads “As seen on Unsolved Mysteries”. When you get done visiting the chapel you can then go in the back and see the bearded lady and the two headed calf.