Would Jesus shop at Wal-Mart?
Which is more ungodly, Wal-Mart’s agency review or its business practices? In this new ad from Wake Up Wal-Mart, pastor Joe Phelps, a Baptist minister from Louisville, Ky., questions the morality of shopping at the retailer, particularly during the Christmas season. “Jesus said, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ ” Phelps says. “But if these are our values, can we continue to shop at Wal-Mart without insulting God?” Also, some 130 evangelical ministers have also written a joint letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, urging him to make Wal-Mart “a Golden Rule company.” |
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December 15, 2006 in Michael Phelps | Permalink |
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Back in the day, I frequented whatever market was closest to the crib. There was this one, Cornelius and Jonah's Discount Emporium, which was just around the corner from where the disciples and me were hangin' in Capernaum, and it was rumored to have really poor manager/employee relations as well as being a blatant polluter of the wells in the south of town. But what could we do? C&J's had the best prices, they were open all night (except on the Sabbath) they had humble roots and a market presence that simply trumped everyone else. Sure, some Mom and Pop shops got the shaft, but when you need D cells and Armour All at 3AM, where are you gonna go?
All that to say, with all respect to Pastor Joe Phelps (who I met at a Vacation Bible School when he was a youngster and haven't seen or heard from since) I think to deny your congregation quality at an affordable price is to be a Pharisee and a hypocrite. I hear from the Phelps kids that the child labor laws in the Phelps home aren't so hot either.
Maybe Pastor Joe is running for the Kentucky State House soon? I appreciate his looking out for the "least of these" and attempting to "do unto others as we would have them do unto us" but Joe, my man, the poor African-American single mother in the bad side of Louisville deeply appreciates Wal-Mart's ability to help her put a few small gifts under the shabby Chrsitmas tree for her kids.
You want to make a difference and help kids and poor folks? Louisville needs you, Joe. China's child labor laws are not your problem right now.
Posted by: Jesus | Dec 15, 2006 10:56:47 AM
If Pastor Joe Phelps knew anything about Jesus, he would know Jesus was poor. Poor people and people who like to save money love shopping at Wallmart. Why should I give Banana Republic $100 for a pair of jeans I can get at Wallmart for $20?
I'm sick of the anti-wallmart crowd telling us where to shop. It's typical "progressive" fascism. Always telling other people what to do. I can't believe the adweek blog would publish this stupid story.
Wallmart has created more jobs than any of the S-P's talking garbage against this noble company. Shame of them!
Posted by: Bobby | Dec 15, 2006 11:49:29 AM
"Progressives" "always telling other people what to do?"
Is that what you're "sick of?"
There are more choices out there than Wal-Mart v. Banana Republic, Bobby.
I'm sure you could find stores that treat their employees in a fair and Christian way.
And I'm sure you could learn to support your arguments without the invective.
Posted by: The Incredible Universe | Dec 15, 2006 12:10:13 PM
Yes, I'm sick of progressives telling me and others what to do.
By the way, Wal-Mart treats their employees very good, and unlike other stores, you don't have to be beautiful to work there.
Jesus wasn't a socialist or communist, this idea that everyone has the "right" to a good job with good benefits is pure BS. Besides, like me, you work at an advertising agency where they can make you works night and weekends with no other benefit than not getting fired, so compared to the agency scene, Wal-Mart is heaven.
The only right we have is to live, maybe breed and die.
Posted by: Bobby | Dec 15, 2006 6:01:44 PM
I posted on my blog that the answer to this question is "yes" and that if the good pastors - who are being used as tools for someone else's agenda do not get it - should give up their pulpits and go back to school and learn a thing or two about just what Wal-Mart does do for these customers and workers. God does forgive fools, even those from the clergy.
Posted by: Jim Lane | Dec 16, 2006 1:31:26 AM
Yes, absolutely, "progressives" tell other people what to do, just like fundamentalist Xtians do. Very alike, the two camps.
My personal family experience is that when a cousin of mine died suddenly and left three children behind, Wal Mart paid for her burial arrangements. My cousin had worked there a long time, something like 15 or more years. Wal Mart also gave money to the children left behind, as well as food and clothing. Wal Mart is NOT all bad!
I also agree that those of us who don't make ends meet on a regular basis do NOT have "alternate" places to shop. No, as a matter of fact, there are NOT other stores with comperable prices. There just aren't!
I think some of the people who inveigh against Wal Mart have never lived on less than $10,000.00 a year, and have no idea what life is like for a lot of people in the South and MidWest. If you want to come live in our shoes, then maybe we can take the "concern" for the wellbeing of children and lack of healthcare a little more seriously.
Posted by: WithoutAName | Dec 18, 2006 10:18:40 AM
So, What if Wal-Mart Made a Mistake?
by Jim Goodman
That was the question asked by the host on a recent Public Radio call-in show. Her question to her guest from the Cornucopia Institute was in regard to recent charges that Wal-Mart was passing conventional grocery items off as USDA certified organic.
A mistake? I doubt it. Seriously, think about it, you start a big push in marketing a new line of high profit products and one of the first things you do is mislabel your products, “accidentally”? As Jim Hightower would say “Do they think we were born with sucker wrappers around our heads?”
Ever since Wal-Mart announced earlier this year that they planned to greatly increase their organic offerings at a cost of only 10 percent more than their conventional foods, those of us who grow organic food have been skeptical.
Now it appears our skepticism was well placed. I personally felt the worst we might expect would be imports of cheap “organic” food from China, but hey, why not go for the gold, just sell conventional food as organic.
There was much excitement about Wal-Mart expanding their organic sales and how it would do so much to help organic farmers, huh? did Wal-Marts entrance into the conventional grocery business help conventional farmers, did their profits go up? Hardly, but it did put lots of small grocery stores out of business and certainly added more black ink to Wal-Marts multi-billion dollar bottom line.
In its short history as an organic retailer Wal-Mart is already under scrutiny for sourcing its organic milk from a factory scale dairy that is under investigation by the USDA for failing to comply with federal organic regulations. It would also appear that they have no qualms about selling organic produce from China as long as it’s cheaper and more profitable than sourcing from the US, but then Wal-Mart is an old hand at offshore sourcing, just ask the US textile industry they helped ruin.
I wonder if a Wal-Mart mistake was the reason 1.6 million women have joined in a civil rights lawsuit against Wal-Mart? This action, now the largest class-action lawsuit in history charges Wal-Mart with sex discrimination in pay and promotions.
When an Oregon jury found Wal-Mart guilty of systematically forcing workers to work overtime without pay, the evidence obviously pointed to more than just a “mistake” on the part of Wal-Mart.
On 10 separate occasions the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Wal-Mart broke the law when it fired union supporters. A mistake, or are they just slow learners?
“A pattern of national disregard by Wal-Mart” was how Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal described the company’s adherence to environmental protection laws. More mistakes, or just their way of doing
business?
In Wal-Marts tightly structured business model everything is controlled (down to the temperature and in-store music) from the head office in Bentonville Arkansas. The home office knows exactly whats going on in the stores and they certainly didn’t become the worlds largest retailer by making mistakes.
Everyday Low Prices, the Wal-Mart slogan, wins the hearts of many because “poor people can afford to shop there.” Those low prices are kept low by the exploitation of international sweatshop laborers, driving competitors out of business and paying their associates wages so low they must turn to Medicaid for health insurance and often buy their cloths at Goodwill.
Wal-Mart does have a history, a history of low wages, union busting, sweatshop exploitation, discrimination and doing whatever it takes to make a profit. So what’s a little mislabeling? Like many of their business practices, a big mistake, but their most consistent mistake is thinking they can get away with it.
A caller to that same radio program asked the guest why he was picking on Wal-Mart. While the guest correctly focused on examples of Wal-Marts unethical and illegal behavior, in particular their flouting of organic standards, my answer would have been shorter, we’re not picking on them, they’re picking on us.
- Jim Goodman is a dairy farmer from Wonewoc, WI
Posted by: noname | Dec 18, 2006 11:13:50 AM
Wal-Mart is for small towns where nothing else is going on, but to go shop at Wal-Mart. They put their town's charming mom n pop shops out business in exchange of cheap household products. Big cities with downtowns full of life don't have Wal-Mart. Since Jesus lived in Jerusalem and Nazareth I don't think he would've shopped at Wal-Mart.
Posted by: Somebody | Dec 18, 2006 2:48:52 PM
I am a member of Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, an occasional WalMart shopper.
The great thing about being a Baptist is that we are allowed and encouraged to interpret the Bible individually. We are allowed and encouraged to ask questions that don't necessarily have black-and-white answers. Our pastor does not tell us what to think, and is open to all of us even when we disagree with him. He influences, but does not dictate, church policy. He speaks his mind, but allows us to as well.
I don't know the answer to the question "Would Jesus shop at WalMart?" Maybe, maybe not. We may not all arrive at the same answer, and that's okay.
Posted by: HBC Member | Dec 18, 2006 3:27:46 PM
"Wal-Mart is for small towns where nothing else is going on, but to go shop at Wal-Mart."
---There's plenty of stuff going on in Miami, Dallas, and Detroit, and yet people shop at Wal-Mart among other places in those cities.
Downtown shopping is pure hell, you can't even find parking there.
Mom n Pop shops will survive if their product is good, original, and if they offer a personal service. If they don't, they deserve to go under. That's the way the system is supposed to work.
Posted by: Jerry | Dec 19, 2006 4:50:54 PM
Wow... I'm no fan of Phelps, but I'm poor and still see "Great-Wall-Mart" as evil. We may pay a few dollars less now for those goods, but our money's going straight to China and not coming back, along with our manufacturing infrastructure. You think you're poor now? Wait 10 years when there are no jobs to be had. Suckers.
Posted by: mLk | Dec 20, 2006 3:31:47 PM
How ironic, Wal-Mart will now sell "Bible-based toys" (done by One2Believe, www.one2believe.com) featuring Jesus of course!
Posted by: MickoZ | Jul 18, 2007 1:45:41 PM
