10 Responses to “Pepsi faces evangelical backlash in Florida”

1. Caleb Powers Says:
   September 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm

   I thought it interesting that one of the poobahs in the group promoting the boycot said: “We fight this battle one skirmish at a time,” he said. “Our forefathers came here for religious liberty, not sexual liberty.”

   Really? I thought our forefathers came here to make money. And, does the reason that our forefathers “came here,” which many of them did in chains, govern policy today? I thought that the idea of boycotting companies that refuse to discriminate against gays and lesbians had kind of died when Disney World called the Baptists on it several years ago. And one would think that “religious liberty” would include the right to be free from persecution in the name of religious zealotry, which was what many of them fled. Again, this all arises from the fact that our public schools have largely stopped teaching history, and if they do teach it at all, they teach the Ronald Reagan version of Amurrican history.

   The scary thing is that these folks, at least those who can find the polling places, probably vote.

2. Niall Says:
   September 10th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

   Gay people drink non-alcoholic beverages?

3. Caleb Powers Says:
   September 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

   Yes, Niall, so long as they are carbonated and not sugar based.

4. Fr. Van Windsor Says:
   September 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

   “Things go better with Coke.”

5. Caleb Powers Says:
   September 10th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

   That would be Diet Coke, Fr. Van . . .

6. John Hamilton Says:
   September 11th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

   What the hell is a soda pop machine doing in a church anyway? Didn’t Jesus clean out the temple because of this? I can just hear the change clicking and the soda pop can dropping during the middle of communion.

   Man, my Mormon church must be really dull. I don’t even bring my wallet. I wonder of this Baptist church has a movie theatre? Can they get popcorn too, and munch on it during the sermon? I can live with Coke instead of Pepsi, but I thought they only drank RC down there.

   Anyway, they can do what they want, they’re a church. They can boycott ju-ju-bees if they want because they make the floor sticky. Would hate to kneel in that! I’d probably cuss right as they were handing me that wafer-thingy.

   Hey! I just got an idea–communion vending machines! The priest could collect more fees by not having to actually be present! It can have a random recorded sermon played before the bread and wine come out, and for an extra dollar you can get a Nilla waver instead of that old crusty stuff. Hmm…

7. José Says:
   September 11th, 2009 at 5:31 pm

   Good grief, John. Please have a doctor inspect your shoulder to schedule a chipectomy!

   My church had a soft drink machine in the fellowship hall, which was far away from the sanctuary. It was more of a public service than anything. Teenagers who wanted a soda during recreation time or other casual meeting could buy one. It surely wasn’t a big money maker.

   Back then no one would have dared to take any unsanctified edibles into the sanctuary during a worship service, except for maybe a cough drop. Folks are a lot less strict now, too much for my liking, but even so I do not recall ever seeing anyone swigging from a soft drink can during the sermon.

8. Caleb Powers Says:
   September 12th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

   John, that reminds me of a front page story in one of those supermarket tabloids that said the Vatican, beset by a shortage of priests, was going to create a priest robot. They showed a picture of it, and it was hilarious; had a mechanical arm to hold out the wafer; not sure how they served the wine. I served for many years as a chalice bearer in my (Episcopal) parish, and was usually pressed into service on Easter and Christmas Eve, when we had big crowds, because I was a fast man with a chalice. I suggested to the Old Rector that maybe we could put the wine in a squirt bottle and just go down the line and squirt a bit into each person’s mouth, which would have the advantage of both being fast and not spreading germs.

   He was not amused.

   We do have a Pepsi machine, John, though ours is in the undercroft (that’s what Episcopalians call the basement of a church), so its clanging doesn’t interfere with communion. After this story, I imagine we’ll keep it; this is not the first protest made by the social conservatives against Pepsi: Back when they hired the late Michael Jackson as a spokesman, a lot of the religious crowd fumed and whined about that, too. I don’t think it hurt Pepsi’s business. As far as the crack about RC, bite your tongue, unless you’re going to mention Moon Pies with the RC!

9. John Hamilton Says:
   September 14th, 2009 at 9:08 am

   Actually, I love Moon Pies (must be my Southern roots coming out), but I’ll never admit that in public around here. I also get a little hungry whenever I see a dead possum on the road. Go figure. I think the squirt bottle was a great idea. Just gotta make sure your aim is real good–would hate to get wine all over somebody’s Sunday best!

   I don’t think church’s make any real money off their vending machines, it just makes me nervous to see commercialism within the walls of a house of God. I am envisioning a beautiful cathedral with stained glass depictions of the prophets and martyrs and then a Pepsi machine underneath them. Chewing on a Milk Dud while watching the light play through an image of Moses parting the waters. Shudder. I guess there’s nothing wrong with it as long as the junk food is in the basement or someplace.

   FYI: There is a big dispute in Mormondom about the evils of Pepsi and other caffeinated drinks. You know we aren’t allowed to drink coffee, tea and alcohol (we make up for it with prescription drug abuse though), so caffeine in soft drinks is considered out by some Shiite Mormons. At BYU, just to avoid a dispute, all the Coke machines have only caffeine-free Coke in them (there are no Pepsi machines for some reason, hmmm…). This really sucked during final exam week! I would have to run off campus and down a six-pack of Jolt cola (all the sugar and twice the caffeine) just to make it through. Hand writing on the exam paper was a little jittery, but I made it through. Those convince stores seemed to have an awful lot of Jolt cola on hand for some reason. And you could get anti-depressants right at the counter. Hmmm again…

10. perplexed Says:
    September 17th, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    Pepsi, “its the real thing”, remember?

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