A while back, I wrote a piece about an experience at Starbucks coffee in which I noticed that a religious message appeared on the cup I drank from.

That particular message was from Dr. Rick Warren, author of the book The Purpose-Driven Life. Here’s what the cup said:

“You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose.”

I found his quotation rather interesting, and it sparked some other thoughts about religion that I wrote about in that post. In short, reading someone else’s opinion inspired me to think a little about religion. It didn’t matter whether or not I agree with Warren; his thoughts on religion prompted me to consider my own beliefs. That, to me, was all that mattered.

But unlike some people, I was not deluded into thinking that Starbucks was trying to reinvent itself into some kind of church. The entire board of directors of the coffee empire — and I assume it has a board of directors — may be Christians. But they may be Buddhists for all I know. I don’t visit their store, or any other coffee stores, because of the religion of those who serve up the coffee: I go for the product. The fact that Starbucks long ago decided to start printing thought-provoking quotations, which it calls its “The Way I See It” campaign, on its packaging is an interesting idea, but not one that I think one should get overly-preoccupied with.

Enter Michelle Incanno of Ohio. She dropped by an area Starbucks and ordered her typical brew. What was apparently atypical about this particular visit was the quotation that ended up on her cup. Rather than a message that could be classified as “pro-God,” she was met with one she considers “anti-God:”

“Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.”

This message was written by a man in London who happened to be a Starbucks customer. There’s no qualification posted on the door that says you have to be a Christian to enter. The baristas do not quiz you on the Bible when you attempt to order a latte. So the fact that some of Starbucks’ customers might not necessarily be Christians.

Some Christians — I’m sure you’ll be stunned to learn — aren’t as open-minded as I am. They are promising never to set foot in a Starbucks again because it is apparently so “liberal” and “God-hating.” (They’ve never seen that Warren cup I mentioned earlier.)

I read some ridiculous comments attacking Starbucks and everything it stands for. I wonder why some Christians feel they need to do so. They probably never asked their baristas what their religious preferences were. So they could have been served by Wiccans, for all they know. And they probably never took the time, while in the grip of coffee craving, to attempt to read up on a single officer of that company for any hint as to what one of them might believe.

Incanno and others have claimed that they wouldn’t feel right about going back to the coffee store they used to frequent. Incanno herself said, “I don’t think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want coffee.”

But if she just wanted coffee, why would she waste the time to read the cup, anyway? I’ve had coffee from plenty of coffee stores and I couldn’t tell you what was written on the cups. Maybe all of them had some kind of message on them. Maybe only Starbucks cups did. But who cares? That’s not why I went in there to start with.

What would Jesus do? Would he boycott Starbucks? Would he call up a reporter and complain? Would he fire off an angry letter to the corporate office?

I don’t think so. I suspect that he’d sit in the middle of the store and lead a peaceful discussion about what faith really is. And he’d show compassion, not hatred, to those who didn’t immediately believe. And I even think he’d welcome questions from those who just weren’t sure. And to those who listened to the questions and still didn’t immediately accept, I’m guessing he’d show patience, not condemnation.

Discussion, which is all these silly little coffee cups are trying to inspire, is a healthy thing. If God had meant for us to accept everything blindly, he wouldn’t have given us the gift of reason, would he?