Why Shane Raynor Missed the Target on Taco Bell

by Clifton Stringer

I am writing as a United Methodist (a decidedly “evangelical” tradition) and close friend of Shane Raynor who thinks that he is wrong to speak against the United Methodist boycott on Taco Bell. If possible, I also hope to convince him (and you) not to ring Target’s bell this year.

Shane writes, “The boycotts are starting to get old. First the Christians on the left are telling me I can’t eat at Taco Bell. Now the Christians on the right are declaring Target off limits. What’s an easy-going evangelical like me supposed to do?”¹

The first problem with this is that easy-going evangelicals should not exist. Anyone who believes that anyone else could spend eternity in hell does not have the luxury of being easy-going. I think Shane’s tone is too influenced by a flaccid American evangelicalism that is more serious about being relevant than about being a disciple of Jesus. Jesus is not easy-going. Anyone who has disciples (root word discipline) outside of California or Austin, Texas is not easy-going.

We Christians have an embarrassingly practical faith. We care more about what you do outside of worship than how much you tingle while you worship. This is why we will never be popular with non-Christian consumers of spirituality. We care what you do with your money so much that we’ll actually ask you to give it to us during worship (what a comedown from Buddy Christ!). We Christians also care what you do with your time, your words, and your genitals, even while you’re alone, which should not be often if you aren’t praying or committed to a monastic order.²

We Christians need to care about what our churches tell us to do. We need to care about it more than we care about our consumer choices or personal opinions. United Methodists kiss choice goodbye weekly when we pray, “Free us for joyful obedience through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”  “Obedience” is a much bigger word in the Christian vocabulary than “choice.” Paul defines the freedom for which we pray as slavery to Christ. Having read the strikingly orthodox liturgies repeatedly published by several mainline Protestant denominations, I have to believe that Christ still speaks more often through his Church than through our desire for the right to eat cheap tacos.

Shane Raynor argues that boycotts almost never hurt the right people.³ But the United Methodist Church has a lot of people. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has a lot of people. The United Church of Christ has people. And Shane rightly points out that the National Council of Churches is affiliated with almost everyone. If people affiliated with these groups boycotted Taco Bell in a uniform fashion, Taco Bell would figure it out really quickly. That is if Taco Bell executives within these churches did not feel convicted to change the unjust policies outright. Taco Bell might be at the bargaining table in under a month, almost certainly quicker than they would downsize and cut jobs. We minority of mainline Christians who are aware of the Taco Bell boycott are called to joyfully abstain from tacos and encourage other Christians to as well. We need to obey our senior pastors and governing bodies in the prophetic hope that one day Christ may have a disciplined enough Church in America to love the least of these how and when we are told to. And if we disagree with our denominational decisions, we should do as Shane encourages liberals to do and work within our particular splinters of Christ’s body to make better Church policy.⁴

Briefly on Target: The question of whether or not the Salvation Army has the right or entitlement to stand in front of Target is the wrong place for Christians to start thinking about this issue. The right place is fear. 

We Americans have an insane fear of other people, especially when they are recovering anythings asking for money. It is a good idea for Christians to resist the temptation to go along with this, because we have texts like Matthew 25:31-46 to try and wiggle around. Texts like Matthew 25:31-46 are positively depressing in what they say about how we relate to other people.

The Salvation Army actually came out of the Methodist movement. The difference between the Salvation Army and the United Methodist Church is twofold. First, the Salvation Army could conceivably survive a grossly hypothetical situation like Matthew 25:31-46. Second, the Salvation Army still has enough discipline to send people into market places asking others face to face for something they don’t want to give. If we’re too scared to be asked for money face to face - a situation Jesus coached us on - how will we justly ask others to give their souls to following an ancient Jewish heretic who happened to be God?

Keep your eyes on the cross and off the Target. Send the Taco czars running for the border. Enjoy Wesley Blog. Obey the Church. 

1 Boycott Target? Bad Idea.  November 24, 2004. 2 I could not have thought this paragraph without reading Lord, Teach Us by William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas.  Abingdon Press. 3 Should Methodists (and Everyone Else) Boycott Taco Bell?  November 13, 2004. 4 Jury Nullification and Beth Stroud.  November 26, 2004.

Note from Shane: My friend Clifton is a very persuasive seminarian who occasionally disagrees with me and certainly lets me know it. Don't take his swipe at Austin, TX too seriously: he's from here and thinks he's seen the light since he moved to the East coast. I won't respond point by point because you can read both sides for yourself- I think we covered them well. I will point out that there is a huge difference between church law (which should be binding) and a boycott (which is technically voluntary). Other than that, good show. Splendid. Now I need a Mountain Dew.