But a few companies plant clues to Christianity in their wrappings,
music or signs precisely because the owners are believers.

Starbucks Stirs Things Up With a God Quote on Cups

USA Today


Oct. 19 - Coffee drinkers could get a spiritual jolt with their java in
the spring when Starbucks begins putting a God-filled quote from the
Rev. Rick Warren, author of the mega-selling The Purpose-Driven Life,
on its cups.

It will be the first mention of God in the company's provocative quote
campaign, The Way I See It. In 2005, Starbucks is printing 63 quotes
from writers, scientists, musicians, athletes, politicians and cultural
critics on cups for company-run and licensed locations to carry on the
coffeehouse tradition of conversation and debate.

Some mention "faith in the human spirit," but none is overtly
religious. Last month, Baylor University pulled Starbucks cups after
objections to a quote from writer Armistead Maupin saying that "life is
too damn short" to hide being gay.

Warren says the idea of a grande pitch for God as creator came to him
after seeing a Starbucks quote on evolution from paleontologist Louise
Leakey. Because Starbucks solicited customer contributions for 2006,
Warren sent his in. On Tuesday, Starbucks spokeswoman Sanja Gould
confirmed that it would be used.

The cups carry a disclaimer that the opinions "do not necessarily
reflect the views of Starbucks."

But a few companies plant clues to Christianity in their wrappings,
music or signs precisely because the owners are believers.

In-N-Out Burger, the California-based fast-food chain, has included
tiny notations for Bible verses in some of its burger and drink
packaging since Richard Snyder, son of the founders, called for it in
1987. "He told me, 'It's just something I want to do,'" company
spokesman Carl Van Fleet says.

After Snyder's death in 1993, "the family felt strongly about keeping
this just as he had done it" at its 196 outlets in California, Arizona
and Nevada. The Bible book and verse in minuscule type "are so subtle
most of our customers never notice."

One who did: Don Chang, the deeply religious founder of clothing chains
Forever 21 and XXI.

Five years ago, the clothier copied In-N-Out by stamping the Bible
book, chapter and verse notation John 3:16 on the bottom of his stores'
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."

It's "evidence of faith," corporate spokesman Larry Meyer says.

Other owners making a faith statement in the secular marketplace
include David Green, whose craft chain Hobby Lobby plays only Christian
contemporary music in its 362 stores, and S. Truett Cathy, who
advertises that Chick-fil-A sandwich shops nationwide are closed on
Sundays to free employees to focus on faith and family.

"Americans are more accepting of overt religiosity these days, and
corporations are good at figuring out how to do it with a light touch,
one that's not going to scare off unbelievers," says sociologist David
Halle, director of the LeRoy Neiman Center for the Study of American
Society and Culture at the University of California-Los Angeles.

Alaska Airlines has put baseball-card-size prayer cards on hot-meal
trays for 30 years "just to differentiate us from the competition,"
spokeswoman Amanda Tobin says. "Compliments have always far outweighed
complaints."