This Christian Group Is Taking a Page Out of the ‘Pride’ Playbook
Chris Stone thinks Christians have something to learn from the gay-pride movement.
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The gay-rights movement, through organizations like GLAAD and Human Rights Campaign, has been unbelievably successful in pushing leading American institutions — big banks, Major League Baseball, elite universities — to celebrate homosexuality. Gay Americans and likeminded allies have used political power and their power as consumers in the marketplace to achieve a level of public recognition that would have been unthinkable just a couple of decades ago.
Stone founded Faith Driven Consumer to help elevate the Christian worldview in the public square in a similar way — not at the expense of any other group, but in addition to them.
The recent controversy surrounding the MLB players who opted to write Bible verses on their caps on “Pride Night” offers a useful example of the disparity Stone sees between Christians and sexual minorities in this country.
Gay people have parades in every major American city, MLB teams celebrate them with special uniforms in June, and major corporations shape their personnel policies around a desire to accommodate their preferences. Public expressions of Christianity, meanwhile, are often met with accusations of bigotry.
Ahead of a Saturday night “Pride” game against the Chicago Cubs earlier this month, star Giants pitcher Landen Roupp inscribed Genesis 9:12-16 on his hat, a passage that describes the rainbow God placed in the sky after sending a flood to wipe out the human race, only to spare Noah and his family.
“The rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant to us, and us as believers stand firm in that,” said Roupp in an interview on San Francisco radio station KNBR. “There’s no hate at all.”
Stone believes Faith Driven Consumer can serve as a go-between in situations like this, supporting the players and helping MLB better understand what equality for Christian players looks like.
“We would not expect Christian athletes in this situation to be required to publicly define a rainbow in a way that’s contrary to their faith,” Stone told National Review.
“Frankly, we would love to have a meeting with them,” Stone added. “We have done that in the past and been very successful.”
On Friday, Faith Driven Consumer asked MLB for an official statement on its position toward Christians. This is the first of many institutions Faith Driven Consumer plans to reach out to under its newly reformatted “Faith Equality Index,” an equality benchmark comparable to Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
“Faith Driven Consumers deserve a clear yes-or-no answer,” Stone said in the press release. “Will MLB Welcome, Embrace, Celebrate, and Affirm Faith Driven Consumers equally?”
In 2013, the organization stood up for “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson after he was suspended indefinitely from A&E. Robertson had been asked a question about what he considered sinful during an interview with the magazine GQ, and the first thing he mentioned was homosexuality.
Faith Driven Consumer responded by creating a campaign called “I stand with Phil.” The company was featured in mainstream media and got thousands of signatures on its petition. Not long afterward, A&E invited Robertson back.
“When I finally had an opportunity to meet with them, they were both extremely glad,” Stone said, “because the consumer wanted it, the network wanted it, the producer wanted it, the show’s cast wanted it.”
In the case of MLB, Stone said there would inevitably be backlash over the pursuit of Christian equality, but he is confident the “outpouring of positive consequences” would be louder than any opposition. “Fan interaction, jerseys sold, tickets sold, viewership increases,” he said, “and it becomes valuable to have faith and consumer interaction.”
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He also acknowledged that his company and faith driven consumers themselves would have to be ready to “step up and deliver” as well. “It’s a two-way street,” he said.
“Faith Driven Consumer is a movement,” Stone told NR. “It’s also a community much like others.” He compared it to advocacy organizations like AARP or Human Rights Campaign. The organization is explicitly Christian because, as Stone explains, “we do not have, as faith driven consumers, any claim to understanding other religions.”
To Stone, Faith Driven Consumer is a way to unite Christ followers and equip them to be open about their faith in public. The organization’s key motives are to “inform, unite, equip, and activate” Christians to feel comfortable being themselves.
Stone estimates that there are approximately 41 million faith driven consumers within the adult American population. Including people he calls “emerging faith driven consumers,” however, Stone believes there are close to 90 million Americans who fall in this category.
“All faith driven consumers are Christian, but not all Christians are faith driven consumers,” he explained.
The organization operates in three specific spheres: the marketplace, the workplace, and public culture. It promotes Christian diversity through the motto “Add Us in.”
“The ‘Add Us in’ component is like colors of the rainbow,” Stone said. “Add us into the rainbow.”
He believes modern America has pursued equity but is sorely lacking legitimate equality.
Equity, he said, means “that you change the power structure, you lift up one group, and by the very nature you push another group down.” Conversely, he compared equality to the rising tide that lifts all boats.
“NASCAR at one point was a focal point of people that were doing it right, related to featuring consumers, and they’ve largely stopped that,” he explained. Now, he believes they need Christian engagement to match their current “Pride” representation.
“I think that ‘Pride’ month is a great example of what it looks like to elevate a concentrated effort — lift up a particular group — and that is part of the world we live in,” he said. “So what kind of engagement do you intend for faith driven consumers?”
He explained that love and kindness are the core values Faith Driven Consumer aims to embody while pushing for this recognition. Their aim is to “empower” companies to engage with them.
As a result, the company does not conduct traditional boycotts.
“[I]nstead of boycotting those who say no, we buycott those that say yes,” Stone explained. He said they are avoiding “nobody wins” scenarios and focusing instead on celebrating when companies engage favorably with faith driven consumers.
“We’re in this to be good citizens, good customers, good employees,” Stone said, “to honor our faith, and to be a good example to be to reflect the light of Jesus.”
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