It all started last week. Not when the change to the cups happened, but when it was first highlighted on Facebook. Joshua Feuerstein, a pastor with over a million followers on Facebook, posted this:
Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus … SO I PRANKED THEM … and they HATE IT!!!! #shareUse #MERRYCHRISTMASSTARBUCKSFollow –> Joshua Feuerstein
Posted by Joshua Feuerstein on Thursday, November 5, 2015
The story has been building ever since. The suggestion is that Christmas symbols were removed from the cups because at Starbucks they “hate Jesus,” and a lot of people agree.
As Truth Revolt reports, the video went mega viral:
Feuerstein told CNN his video had more than 10 million views.
“I think Starbucks has gotten the message that the Christian majority in this country has awakened and are demanding that our voice be heard,” he wrote.
In response, Starbucks said it was trying “to create a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity” and that cup was meant to be a “blank canvas” for “customers to tell their Christmas stories in their own way.”
Customers started posting pictures on Instagram and Facebook of their cups with “Merry Christmas” written on them instead of their names.
There is, of course, a less than total agreement about what exactly is going on here. For example, Snopes.com, known pretty universally as the website to go to for debunking urban legends and email myths, for some reason decided to tackle this story that is neither an urban legend nor an email myth. In fact, it is the lead story at the site and has been for a few days now. They rate the story as “FALSE”, deciding that as a matter of scientific fact, Starbucks does not Hate Jesus. Or perhaps they mean none of this is happening at all and it’s just in your mind,t he cups are fine, the cups are fine, there are five lights.
The narrator in the above-displayed video asserts that Starbucks employees are “banned from saying Merry Christmas” and that the coffee chain removed its holiday symbols because they “hate Jesus.” But there is no evidence to support either of these claims.
In fact, while Starbucks 2015 Holiday Cup doesn’t bear any Christmas symbols, the chain still sells “Christmas Blend” coffee, offers gift cards with holiday symbols, and even vends Advent calendars:
The author then proceeds to show other products for sale that have “holiday’ symbols such as ornaments, snow men, and poinsettias. No other mention is made in the article of the banning of saying Merry Christmas, despite the giant “FALSE” at the top of the page.
Has Snopes “debunked” anything at all? Well, no. They can’t “prove” that Starbucks doesn’t hate Jesus any more than Feuerstein can prove that they do. They failed to show any Christian holiday symbols on any Starbucks product, and in no way dispute Feuerstein’s claim that the cups have no Christmas symbols on them, mainly because they don’t. What have they debunked? What’s with the big “FALSE” at the top?
As much as Christians love stories at this time of year about a “War on Christmas”, leftists love stories attacking those stories a thousand times more. They can’t help but sneer and deride. They love the war on Christmas because they love to mock Christians.
Snopes claims to be in the business of dispelling rumors. They are known for debunking myths. What they are actually doing here is just run-of-the-mill left blogging.
Feuerstein claims Starbucks hates Jesus. Christians are mad that their holiday symbols have been ignored or removed by a corporation where many of them spend part of their holiday money. None of this is a myth or a legend, and none of it has been debunked or disproved. Instead, it’s just another typical leftist sneer at the dumb Christians, masquerading as some kind of half-assed fact check.
Here’s my fact check:
CLAIM: Snopes debunked the “myth” that Starbucks removed Christmas symbols from their cups because they hate Jesus.
STATUS:
