Should Christians boycott businesses?

Question

Do you think Christians should boycott businesses that try to profit from the Christmas Holiday season but never really acknowleging Christmas. You know the ones that try to pander to everyone so they won't lose a buck by calling it the Winter Holiday. You know the ones that use Family Trees in the advertisements rather than Christmas Trees. So how fast would they make a policy change if the millions of Christians were to boycott against them. What's you opinion?

Answer 1

Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's". In other words, it's just money and not something to try to control or keep hold of. Christians know that Christmas is not about shopping, so what stores do during the holidays just isn't important.

Answer 2

Well it is a catch-22 situation. If it bothers you about the words than by all means boycott. Just remember that they are just words. As long as the spirit is there. Also remember too that there are people who don't celebrate Christmas, but do have a holiday they celebrate. Saying Happy Holidays still has the spirit of the Season and I think it is a Christian thing to do to wish people goodwill no matter what the situation. With that said, some companies chose to respect the wishes of the other millions of people in America as well as the Christians. With that they also do a lot of good as well at the holidays. Starbucks adheres to that philosophy, and they collect over 235,000 toys in this area alone for the Starlight Foundation for sick kids every holiday, Target helps many children in this area around the holidays, Walmart(the biggest offender of all christmas profittering) helps Toys for Tots. I could go on and on. The point being is sometimes they donate a proceed of the sales to a charity at this time. Yeah it may be a tax write off for them, but who cares? They are giving. Seems ok to me. And a Christian thing to do.

Answer 3

I think you should boycott anyone you feel deserving of it, but I'm not sure what the problem is. Presumably you're going to the stores to buy presents as part of celebrating Christmas with your friends and family on the appropriate day. Do you need to celebrate it while you are shopping?

I'm Jewish and feel a little left out by all this Christmas stuff, and I can't stand the crowds and music. I'll try to purchase my Hanukkah gifts quickly and boycott all businesses as much as possible for the entire month of December, but I have no reason to boycott any stores in particular. I only have a problem if an employee greets me with "Merry Christmas" - I could care less what they use to name things.

My other problem with the stores is that Hanukkah is an 8 day holiday, but unlike Christmas, Jews only celebrate Hanukkah during the actual holiday (this year 12/04-12/12), not before and not after. Menorahs should only be displayed during the actual holiday, and if they want to "light" it, they should use the correct amount of lights and light it correctly. I realize that this is all for show and has no religious value, but if they want to acknowledge my holiday in a phony attempt to make people like me feel welcome (and buy stuff), at least put in a minimal amount of effort to do it properly.

Answer 4

LOL Samaruso... yeah, no doubt you are serious about your faith.

This is an interesting question. I generally don't get worked up about anything enough to boycott, but I think it is great for people to band together to support a cause they believe in, a la the bus strike of the civil rights era.

However, as a Christian and a retailer, while I personally have a Nativity scene up, I don't think it is necessarily cowardice or politically correctness to be broader in your "season's greetings". I think people who get offended at things like "Merry Christmas" and make a big deal about trivial things like a Christmas tree are weak minded individuals and are getting all upset for no reason, but I also don't have a problem with a retailer trying to be inclusive rather than exclusive, especially when you realize that these same customers are their customers year round, not just at Christmas.

As a serious minded Christian (who will NOT be going to see the Golden Compass), I would not support a boycott for this reason.

Answer 5

I think that the boycott would be a stupid thing to do since in America there is a large amount of people who celebrate winter holidays other than Christmas. Just because you celebrate Christmas doesn't mean that everyone does and why should others be left out of celebration just because you don't like it? Christmas trees are also not only used by Christians to celebrate Christmas, in Russian tradition people put up New Year's trees. I think trying to make companies change their policies to only reflect Christmas would be an ignorant and selfish move.

Answer 6

If you want to boycott a business, it's up to you to do so.

The reason most businesses keep operating is that they fulfill a need, and you will find that most christians won't boycott businesses simply because the owners don't have the same attitudes as them to certain festive occasions.

Celebrate your religious holidays however you want, and boycott what you want, you can even try and organise a wider boycott, but don't be surprised if good value and low prices win out over 'should' every time!

Cheers :-)

Answer 7

I went into a store that sells jewellery and I looked around. Nothing Christmas there. I asked "Where are all the earrings like snowmen and trees and candycanes?"
The lady behind the counter said that "this store isn't celebrating Christmas." I thought to myself "What?". Well now I am puzzled. I never heard of a store that didn't have anything at all....so I won't bother going there anymore. All because they didn't have snowmen earrings. Go figure. A store that doesn't want customers.

Answer 8

Two years ago, the politically correct thing really took hold. But last year, more retailers used the word "Christmas" in spite of the pressures of the minority politically correct. And this year, I don't think we'll see too many businesses that are afraid to say Christmas. At least, I hope not. Since when does the minority (in number) determine what the majority does and says.

Answer 9

You should boycott businesses that will not acknowledge Christmas. If they want to profit from it they should acknowledge the religious significance of it. I have noticed that many stores have no nativity sets or items that say merry Christmas for sale. I personally have not returned to those particular stores.

Answer 10

I think that Christians have the opportunity to influence business decisions and their culture by boycotting. In a money-oriented culture, a loss of dollars speaks louder than any letters to the businesses. I am offended as a Christian that my Lord is excluded from His holiday!