The church Howard Schultz was to visit is against homosexuality and believes it is a sin.
The Islamic religion KILLS gays, literally cutting their heads off or pushing them off a cliff.
Want to make a bet nobody would say a fucking thing if Howard Schultz wanted to visit a Mosque?
Photo: Howard Schultz, the founder and CEO of StarbucksAlready catching heat for how a café manager allegedly berated and fired a gay employee, the CEO of Starbucks suddenly cancelled an appearance at Willow Creek Community Church this week after an online petition insisted he denounce the mega-church’s views on homosexuality.
Howard Schultz, the founder and CEO of Starbucks, was scheduled to deliver a talk Friday titled “How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing Its Soul” during the annual leadership summit sponsored by Willow Creek Association, an international association of churches based in South Barrington.
Though Starbucks confirmed Schultz no longer planned to be there, the company would not attribute it to a campaign launched last week calling on Schultz to denounce the church’s stance before the event.
Earlier this summer, the coffee company announced an investigation of allegations that an openly gay New York barista was fired for discussing his personal life because Starbucks had “zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.”
With that in mind, activist Asher Huey of Washington, D.C., criticized Schultz for agreeing to appear at a church with a longstanding membership in Exodus International, a ministry that believes homosexual behavior is destructive and Christians can “grow into heterosexuality.”
“The church that is sponsoring the event … has a long history of anti-gay persecution,” wrote Huey, who gathered more than 700 signatures at www.change.org.
But the church’s membership in Exodus ended in 2009 when the church re-evaluated all of its healing ministries for people facing addiction, divorce, cancer or sexual identity issues, said church spokeswoman Susan DeLay. She said Willow’s views had evolved since signing up for Exodus decades ago.
“They were one of the few Christian organizations having conversations with people who struggle with being gay,” she said.
But after careful contemplation, Willow now espouses the belief that “coming to faith in Christ doesn’t promise a change in sexual orientation,” she said.
Scholars have noted that many contemporary evangelical leaders welcome people of all sexual orientations, but stop short of affirming committed same-sex relationships that they still believe violate Scripture.
Mary Lou Wallner, a former member of Willow whose lesbian daughter committed suicide 14 years ago, said a semi-private conversation with Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, three years ago gave her hope.
At the end of that conversation, Hybels said he didn’t believe homosexuality was a choice or that it could be fixed. But he did believe Scripture calls for gays and lesbians to be celibate, she said. “Someone like Bill Hybels could change the world,” she said.
Hybels will explain the church’s views in more detail at the summit on Thursday, DeLay said.
