Anti-God Starbucks cup has customer steaming*

Woman says: 'I don't think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I
just want coffee'

Posted: May 6, 2007

An Ohio woman is steaming after reading an anti-God message published on
the side of a Starbucks coffee cup.

The message that got Michelle Incanno's blood boiling reads:

"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."

Michelle Incanno of Springboro, Ohio holds a cup part of Starbucks' 'The
Way I See It' campaign (courtesy: Dayton Daily News)

The quote was written by Bill Schell, a Starbucks customer from London,
Ontario, Canada, and was included as part of an effort by the
Seattle-based coffee giant to collect different viewpoints and spur
discussion.

"As someone who loves God, I was so offended by that," Michelle Incanno,
a married mother of three who is Catholic, told the Dayton Daily News.
"I don't think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want
coffee."

Incanno of Springboro, Ohio, admits she had been a huge fan of Starbucks
before discovering the message, always ordering a large, house-brewed
coffee with nonfat milk and two Splenda.

"I wouldn't feel right going back," she said.

The paper says Incanno wasn't satisfied with a company disclaimer saying
the quote is the author's opinion, not necessarily that of Starbucks,
which invites customers to respond on its website.

Starbucks spokeswoman Sanja Gould said the collection of thoughts and
opinions is a "way to promote open, respectful conversation among a wide
variety of individuals. "

Starbucks cup with a pro-homosexual message caused controversy in Waco,
Texas, in 2005 (courtesy: Seattle Times)

This is not the first time a message on a Starbucks cup has caused
controversy.

In September 2005, officials at Baylor University told the Starbucks
store on its Waco, Texas, campus to remove a cup said to promote
homosexuality.

The offending cup featured the words of homosexual novelist Armistead
Maupin.

It reads:

    "My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long.
I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out
there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn
short."

Baylor University, the world's largest Baptist school, refused to
comment on the issue, said KCEN-TV in central Texas. Employees at the
campus Starbucks said none of their customers had complained about the
cup, but they removed it.