Faith Driven Consumer founder Chris Stone is encouraging Christian shoppers to use their Christmas dollars for creating their own "nice and naughty" lists this season. As the move to make Christmas into a crazy holiday frenzy rather than the Christian celebration that it is supposed to be intensifies, Stone proposes that a "buycott" will be far more effective than a boycott.
Many companies have been giving into the "politically correct" notion of removing faith-based decorations and replacing them with festive winter ones instead. There's also the effort of some companies to pressure their employees to wish customers "happy holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" so as not to offend anyone.
The Faith Driven Consumer website describes the organization as one that is aimed at, "Christians who choose to live out our faith in every arena of life - including the marketplace. We make daily decisions based on our biblical worldview and see everything we do in the context of stewardship. Our heartbeat is to give honor to God with every choice we make."
Another focus that Faith Driven Consumer has is to, "create space in the marketplace for those who hold a Biblical worldview."
There are 26 different categories of companies, and a few of the top businesses for being the most faith-based friendly include names such as Cracker Barrel, Walmart, Tyson Foods, Honda, Samsung, Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby to name just a few.
Stone says that the Christmas buycott, "offers our community a positive, proactive way to affect change, and we will absolutely use this opportunity to make progress toward our goal of achieving equality for Faith Driven Consumers."
He adds that each business gets contacted about where it ranks among others in connection to embracing Christians and their values, and they are offered an opportunity for feedback.
Stone's vision is for the buycott principle to expand beyond the Christmas shopping season. He would like for it to operate year-round so that companies that respect the faith of their Christian customers and their values will be rewarded on an on-going basis.
The website also offers Christians faith-friendly film reviews. The genres covered include action, comedy, documentaries, drama, romance and sports. The reviews focus exclusively on the content and how well it respects Christian values as opposed to the film's budget, talent personalities, and other external factors.
Christians interested in participating in the Christmas buycott campaign are encouraged to sign a petition and sign up to receive updates about companies participating in supporting the faith-based marketplace. Christians can also suggest a company for review on the website.
Christians can also find Faith Driven Consumer on Facebook. A statement on its Facebook page reads in part that the purpose of the page is to, "encourage open discussion about current topics, recent news, and overall consumer engagement."
