As a Christian I feel the need to speak out and defend the right of coffee vendors not to put Diwali decorations on their take-out coffee cups, nor Eid decorations, nor Chanukah decorations nor Christmas decorations. They have the right to decorate or not decorate their coffee cups in any way they choose subject to the law of the land. If we do not uphold and defend this right then the alternative will be too ghastly to contemplate.
Denigrating them for not decorating their coffee cups with our particular flavour of religious celebration may be free speech, but it borders on harassment, badly models our own religion and is certainly one way of opposing the vendor's right. Tolerance is a prerequisite for the love that most religions claim as their hallmark. Let's at least get that much right as the festive seasons unfold.
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credit: adweek.com)
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