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Starbucks will begin to ink a “purpose driven” quote from Southern California megachurch pastor Rick Warren, onto its cups, according to a recent report by USA Today.
The quote from the Saddleback Church pastor contains the only direct mention of God in Starbuck’s new quote campaign, "The Way I See It,” which gathered 63 quotes from writers, scientists, musicians, athletes, politicians and cultural critics. Warren’s quote states the purpose of life can only be found in God.
"You are not an accident,” Warren writes. “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."
The quote is part of Starbucks' effort to carry on the coffeehouse tradition of conversation and debate beginning Spring 2006. A disclaimer on the cups state that they do not necessarily reflect the company's beliefs.
As secular companies become more open with displays of others’ faith, Christian companies are less intimidated by secular norms. Large corporations with Christian foundations, the Curves fitness chain, Chick-fil-A, and Servicemaster have faith stamped all over their packaging.
In-N-Out Burger, the California-based fast-food chain, has included notations for Bible verses in some of its burger and drink packaging since 1987.
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Don Chang, the “deeply religious” founder of popular clothing chains Forever 21 and XXI, stamps John 3:16 on the bottom of his shopping bags: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Meanwhile, a new breed of small-owner entrepreneurs is advertising its faith loud and clear, according to a recent feature in TIME magazine. There are Christian banks, car dealerships, gyms, plumbers, financial planners, mortgage lenders, moving companies, building contractors and Internet-service providers.
Cindy Griffin, salon owner of Classic Body Image Salon & Day Spa, says her most popular service is prayer. Her stylists stop mid-session for prayer.
As her clientele solidified and evangelicals gained prominence, she had Scripture stenciled on the walls and named the café after the Garden of Eden. The salon plays Christian rock, displays Christian magazines and forbids cursing or gossip. There are now over 1,000 clients a month, and the store grosses $540,000 a year.
Michael Zigarelli, dean of the School of Business at Regent University, estimated that there are 500,000 to 600,000 “Christian owned and operated” businesses in the United States today—approximately 10 percent of all corporations.
And TIME observed that these businesses are "meshing prayer with profits—marketing to the like-minded, proselytizing to the unbelieving.”
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