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Boycotting Religious Businesses?

I was wondering how the Atheist community felt about this. I know that a lot of you don't care for Christians, or Christian music/books, etc...

There's an LDS bookstore my mom often goes to. I hate being in there, being seen, and I don't want to buy anything (LDS or otherwise) because I don't want to give them the business. Is this ethical?

Obviously it's a person's choice what they purchase and where, so is it that simple? If you refuse to purchase an item that you would have if the shop was not religious, is that bigotry?

What if the shop isn't affiliated with a religion, but is privately owned and covered in religious paraphernalia? What if it's a gas station playing religious sermons? (I've had that experience...)

What if it's a charity for a cause you believe in-- with religious ties?

Tags: business, religion

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Permalink Reply by Callie Bookman on May 4, 2010 at 7:35pm

I'm in Ohio, and they're pretty plentiful here. I don't know if that counts as north though. :P

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Nicole on May 3, 2010 at 11:07pm

I also still shop at Hobby Lobby. I try to avoid going to my doctor's office for a different reason than the fact her place is covered with religious epithets and pictures.

I was actually reading earlier about how some Curves gyms will play Christian music and place Christian symbols around the rooms, while looking into what gyms are available near where I live since it's not a neighborhood I should be jogging around at night.

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Permalink Reply by Tak G. on June 14, 2010 at 6:50pm

That's one of the MAJOR reasons I quit Curves. It was very alienating, even though I wasn't officialy a non believer at the time.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Allen on May 3, 2010 at 11:15pm

I think a full-on boycott might be going too far. With Hobby Lobby, I think they have every right to advertise as they see fit and splash their Christian messages everywhere. We have the right to shop elsewhere. We can choose either to exercise that right or not, depending on how we feel on any given day, without any need to call for a complete boycott. To say "I feel uncomfortable shopping their because of their overt Christian propaganda" is fair enough and, as far as I'm concerned, far enough.

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Permalink Reply by Cynical Soldier on May 3, 2010 at 11:17pm

Boycott whatever you want, it's your right. I didn't know there were Mormon stores, I'd boycott the shit out of that.

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Permalink Reply by Wes Bonez on May 3, 2010 at 11:18pm

You can be damn sure that most religious people out there would not go to a business owned by an openly agnostic person... let alone an Atheist. I see no reason to donate to their livelyhood if given a chance.

If you have no other choice (only gas station for 200 miles) then give you might want to give a friendly reminder that not all Atheists are evil baby BBQ'ers. Especially if you will never see them again.

I bet you can find a secular alternative to the charity you like if you look around... Dawkins has a great list on his site if memory serves.

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Permalink Reply by Jezzy on May 4, 2010 at 4:38pm

"not all Atheists are evil baby BBQ'ers"

Exactly! Not all Atheists even like BBQ sauce! Where does this come from??

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Permalink Reply by Wes Bonez on May 4, 2010 at 4:53pm

To take this totally off topic...

Being a former Southern Baptist (from California, not Alabama), I know we are known for our BBQs (beef, pork, chicken, and crosses)... So they try to flip whatever they love into the exact opposite... So, I am pulling this out of my arse when I say this...

Here goes:

They love BBQs and crosses... Who was born and worshiped? Baby Jebus. Who was on a cross, died, and came back? Zombie Jebus. Following C²-B²=A² ... Atheists like to BBQ Baby Jebus on a spit.

I could see Bill O'reiley saying something like: Every good American loves their BBQ sauce! If you don't love it, you must hate Baby Jebus, be a socialist or worse, a communist.