Christian Business Directory
Posted on: February 20, 2007 - 11:12pm
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Christian Business Directory
I was sitting in the lobby of an automotive shop waiting for them to remove a screw from a tire, and I found the "christian business directory" in the lobby. This is the real deal, not a parody. It's about 150 pages of "christian business" ads.
I'm going to reserve my comments and let you discuss for a while before I throw in my 2 cents:
REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM.
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*SIGH*
Morons...
This is interesting....
My fellow atheists and I discuss this often. Do others here boycott a business if they find out it christian owned? And by that I mean a business who have bible quotes in their ads or christian themed paraphenalia in the store? There are few in the area here and when their beliefs become evident we will no longer patronize the business. We figure that if they are evangelical enough to push their views on paying customers, then we are done giving them our money.
I think it depends on the intent of the directory.
If they are insinuating that they cater only to xians, I say boycott.
I've seen GLBT business directories around town, but they don't cater to a particular group. I think the idea is that they're saying that they're "gay friendly" and won't discriminate against gays.
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Well, I think the GLBT is the exact reverse. The Christian version is essentially saying it is GOOD to discriminate against business persons who are not Christian.
In this way, the GLBT opposes discrimination, while the Christian version seems to indicate that discrimination is a virtue.
The purpose of the GLBT would be to say that they welcome gay or lesbian customers, but that the store owners may be of any sexual preference.
The purpose of the Christian directory is to let people know who the Christian business owners are so that they can discriminate against non-Christian businesses.
Suppose the KKK created a "White Caucasian Male Business Owner Directory." And suppose the purpose of the directory was to "encourage the advancement of the master race". Their goal would be to point out white caucasian male owned businesses so that you could discriminate against those that were not owned by white caucasian males. I'd have a big problem with that. And I think MOST people would.
Why does religion get a free pass to discriminate?
REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum
I agree.
Interestingly, when I open this thread in FireFox, the picture doesn't display.
Once I opened it in Safari and saw some of what the directory said...
Ack! It was worse than I expected!
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I think we ought to be careful to avoid attacking things just because they are religious when they are not foisting religion on others. We can engage in discussion, but a boycott would only serve to alienate people, which I think undermines their receptiveness to atheism. That isn't to say that we shouldn't advocate a boycott in extreme circumstances, but this doesn't seem to rise to that level, to me.
But that's just my approach.
It's only the fairy tales they believe.
I think we ought to be careful to avoid attacking things just because they are religious when they are not foisting religion on others. We can engage in discussion, but a boycott would only serve to alienate people, which I think undermines their receptiveness to atheism. That isn't to say that we shouldn't advocate a boycott in extreme circumstances, but this doesn't seem to rise to that level, to me.
But that's just my approach.
I guess boycott was the wrong terminology. If their religious prostyltizing is extreme an organized boycott would appropriate.
What I really meant was a personal boycott. I personally will not patronize a business after having their religious foisted upon me. Wether it is biblical quotes in an ad or an overt religious theme in the store, I am the paying customer and their magical friends should even enter into the equation.