Pastor: Starbucks hates God

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Christian groups are condemning the nation’s largest coffee chain after its Jan. 24 announcement in support of same-sex marriage in Washington State.

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Starbucks, based in Seattle, has a history of hostility to traditional values and Christians across the country should boycott Starbucks, said Pastor Steven Andrew, leader of USA Christian Ministries. “Starbucks hates God.”

Two other Washington State multinational corporations, Microsoft and NIKE , also voiced their support for same-sex marriage in a Jan. 19 letter to the state’s Democratic Gov. Christine O. Gregoire.

According to USAChristianMinistries.com, such a boycott would cause Starbucks to lose 80 percent of its customers, since there is an 80 percent Christian majority in the United States.

“Why is Starbucks against our Founding Fathers and God’s liberty?” Andrews said. “Starbucks can follow Satan if they want to.”

In the same statement, the ministry called on its adherents to support Republican presidential candidate Richard J. Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, and the pro-life movement.

This is not the first time Starbucks has come under attack from Christian organizations.

In 2008, a Christian group called The Resistance called for a boycott of the coffee chain due to its new logo, which featured a topless mermaid with her legs spread.

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Mark Dice, founder of The Resistance, said that the logo is extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.

In 2005, Baylor University, a Baptist college in Waco, Texas, pulled Starbucks cups printed with a quote from writer Armistead Maupin who said that life is too damn short to hide being gay.

Maupin’s quote was part of the company’s “The Way I See It” marketing campaign, which featured quotes from various authors, scientists, athletes, politicians and activists on Starbucks cups.

This marketing campaign also included a quote from Rev. Rick Warren, leader and founder of Saddleback Church: “You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.”

In 2008, Warren endorsed California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman only. Then, to the shock of his supporters, President Barack Obama asked the preacher to speak at his inauguration.

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Despite hostility from religious groups, same-sex marriage legislation in the state of Washington looks to prevail through the legislature, and Starbucks, Microsoft, NIKE, and other major Pacific Northwest companies are part of its success.

The state senate Feb. 1 approved the bill. The legislation is expected to pass easily in the state House of Representatives. Gregoire endorsed the measure and said she will sign it into law.

If the legislation passes, Washington will join New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa and the District of Columbia in changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

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