No cite; as I said such studies are very seldom done, and less often talked about, and I can’t find a cite to something I read in a book ten-twenty years ago, or something that gets a small mention in a newspaper and is never seen again. Which is why I said “the few times I’ve heard of” instead of a link.
The Gospels are irrelevant. Jesus has not much more to do with Christianity than I do. He started it, but it long ago took on a life of it’s own. What matters is what Christians believe and how they act, not what a dead lunatic/con man preached 2000+ years ago. The lunatics and con men who are still alive are much more important to Christianity. As are the self indulgent people who use Christianty to excuse their every evil and stupidity; which is pretty much what it’s made for.
Walloon this I think is the crux of the issue. The problem is that in my (admittedly small) sample people who put Jesus fishes on their business cards are not Christians as I think of them (and probably not how you think of them either), but rather they are wolfs that are pulling the skin of a lamb over themselves to try and entice the faithful.
I know the bible says to turn the other cheek, but I don’t think there is a suggestion as to what do after you have been butt fucked by one of these sleeze bags pretending to be a Christian.
So in this case I will go with the scriptures according to the City of New York.
“Fuck me once, shame on you,
fuck me twice, shame on me.”
Or to quote from the prophet Townshend
“Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
No, no!”
If the company has a religious symbol/display AND a good rep, I’m biased for. If it has a religious symbol/display, I’m biased against. If it has a religious symbol/display, I’m biased against. If I don’t know it’s rep, a religious symbol MAY sway me to check it out.
Yup. The same can be said of using politics as a marketing tool… or of most of the marketing tools used by politicians, come to think about it.
Oh, and while in Spain we don’t get in-your-face religious advertising and most people (including atheists, Buddhists and I’m-against-the-Church Catholics with whom this has come up in conversation; never had a chance to talk about it with a Muslim) don’t have a problem with seeing a religious image that’s basically part of the décor, we do have other kinds of in-your-face political advertising; I avoid those places automatically, whatever their political sign. If I want a drink I want a drink, not a drink and a political speech.
If the owner is saying,“I am a Christian, and I follow Christian principles*of honesty,fairness,what ever is the opposite of greediness etc.” He is acting like Christianity has a patent on those virtues. There was good honest,fair, and generous people long before Jesus or Christianity came along. Buddah’s Golden Rule was 500 years before Jesus’s time. There are Christians who follow that and some who do not.
Interesting. And many studies I have seen show completely different results. I am of course prepared to provide cites for this if needed.
If you have proof about Christians being more likely to be nasty folks, please provide it. Otherwise, I think you should restrict your criticisms to things you can prove, or specific theological concerns you have.
I won’t patronize a buisness who advertises like that if there is an alternative. When I purchase a product or service, what I care most about is competance and professionalism . I don’t care about your god, your haircut, how you dress, your politics, the length of your nutsack, etc. What I need to know is: How does your service or product fill my needs? Can you do this in a timely manner? Are your prices competitive with other buisnesses? Unless you are a church or a buisness that deals in religious supplies or services, I fail to see how an ostentatious display of faith is helping me with my choice in patronage.
It is more likely to drive away a wide customer base then the slight increase in wacky fundy buisness would be worth.
I avoid businesses that advertise their religion. My experience has shown me that the more Christian advertising they have, the more tightly I should keep a hold on my wallet.
Quoting this for agreement, because it’s the same basic sentiment as mine, posted previously, but coming at it from a different angle.
The religious folks who have gotten their knickers into a twist over this subject need to understand that a distinction is being made between two entirely separate populations:
Christians (and religious people in general), and
People who festoon themselves and their businesses with Christian/religious imagery in an effort to separate other people from their money.
The plumber with a Jesus fish in his Yellow Pages ad may or may not be a good Christian. We can draw no concrete conclusions about his faith from this practice, and neither can we generalize to other Christians. In my experience, businesspeople who behave in this way are less trustworthy than businesspeople who let their business practices speak for themselves. In my experience, the more attention somebody calls to the Bible in his hand, the more frequently one should count one’s silverware.
Don’t blame us for drawing the conclusions that we do. Blame the crooks who have ruined it for the good people.
If advertising could be trusted, then we might reasonably assume that a Christian-owned business would be run ethically and with compassion as a factor in business decisions. We could make similar assumptions about a Jewish-owned business, a Muslim-owned business, and a business run by a Theravada Buddhist. (Although why a Theravada Buddhist would seek out the attachments that inevitably would follow business ownership is unclear.)
I am unaware of any major religion that exhorts its followers to cheat, dissemble, or act unethically.
Unfortunately, the mere claim of the business owner is this regard is untrustworthy.
Depends on the nature of the business. In Pinellas County I’ve occasionally driven past an office park where one business has a prominent sign, “Christian Law Group.” I would never take a case there. OTOH, I’ve also seen a BBQ place with a big sign saying, “Jesus Is Lord,” and I would have no problem with eating there. (Jesus, OTOH, would. "Oy! This stuff is trafe!" )
By way of update, I walked by a food court Chick-Fil-A yesterday and saw their Sunday sign (it was turned towards the wall, but I peeked in the interest of science). It simply said, “Since 1946, it has been the policy of Chick-Fil-A to close on Sunday. We look forward to serving you Monday through Saturday.”
But they are also qualities that almost anyone concerned with morality and ethics have advocated, including all major religions and secular philosophies.
You admit as much, but by equating the statements “I am a Christian” and “I am honest, etc.” you contradict this admission. It’s also dishonest, because the two statements are not equivalent. “I am Christian” means “I adhere to certain beliefs, principally related to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”
If you say that the message “I am a Christian” should be interpreted by the viewer as “I am honest, etc.” Then you are also implicitly saying that “I am not a Christian” means “I am not honest, etc.” This is an implicit insult to any non-Christian viewer of the message.
And that’s still part of my point. The proprietor is saying that he subscribes to a code of ethics, this code happening to be Christianity.
I guessed above that, per SDMB, the worst possible interpretation would be applied to any statement, and with this “So you’re saying that anyone who isn’t a Christian is immoral!” line of argument, you haven’t disappointed me.
Except posters like Der Trihs do not appear to be making that distinction. They’re making generalized statements of “fact” that are essentially no different from me saying that I wouldn’t patronize a Muslim-owned business because “those people are terrorists, and Mohammed was a warmonger and pedophile” - a statement for which I would be (rightly) castigated on these boards.
See my comment about Muslims. The same crowd on these boards that gets up in arms over generalizations about Muslims based on the actions of a few terrorists is the same crowd that’s more than happy to make generalizations about Christians based on the actions of a few crooks.
And in saying this you are being deliberately disingenuous.
Christianity is not primarily a code of ethics. It is a religious belief system. By equating that belief system to the bare meaning “good ethics,” you are inviting comparisons with other belief systems.
By positing that the statement “I am Christian” is a reasonable substitute for the statement “I am ethical” you are saying "Non-Christians are not (or are less likely to be) ethical. And then for to get all high-and-mighty with this “You have not disappointed me” stuff is the height of intellectual dishonesty.
Well, here we disagree. Besides being a religious belief system, Christianity is also a code of ethics. And yes, I do believe that a person who sincerely (repeat — sincerely) subscribes to a code of ethics, by whatever name — Christianity, Judaism, Islam, the Better Business Bureau charter — is more likely to be ethical than a person who does not subscribe to a code of ethics.
On the contrary, you’re putting your own spin on this.
I guess the African Students Associations and Black Leagues are emphasizing that because they are superior to every other race?
If I were to put I am a Christian anywhere it would be so that if by chance other Christians come, we can relate and debate issues that are dear to us.
For people the people calling Religion/Religious people ignorant/stupid in this thread, you seem to fail to look into the mirror.
That’s what you say, but you don’t have a fish in your sig. I’m not saying they’re claiming that these virtues are exclusive with them, just that they have more of them. Tell me your hours, tell me your experience, tell me your prices. but if you feel the need to tell me how religious and virtuous you are, when it has nothing to do with how well you can fix a leaky pipe, my bullshit meter goes off. I figure these guys are as honest as a family values spouting Republican congressman is faithful.
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