Christ-branded consumption

Researchers are not able to differentiate the behaviours and values of self-identified Christians from non-Christians with on exception — what they buy. As total sales of religious products reaches $7 billion annually, it appears that God’s people are constructing and expressing their identity through the consumption of Christ-branded products. As Mark Riddle observes, “Conversion in the U.S. seems to mean we’ve exchanged some of our shopping at Wal-Mart, Blockbuster and Borders for the Christian Bookstore down the street. We’ve taken our lack of purchasing control to God’s store, where we buy or office supplies in Jesus’ name.”

– Skye Jethani The Divine Commodity

What do you think?

iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday

Line outside Dallas' Apple store | Photo by alexmuse

Today a new iPhone 3Gs is being released to the masses. Folks were lining up around the block to get their hands on Steve Jobs’ latest gadget.

The new 3Gs just adds to the iphone buzz on Twitter about the new iPhone 3.0 OS (released earlier this week).

And I get it. I’m a huge fan of technology and gadgets – including my beat-up BlackBerry Curve 8310.

But what if these things we consume on a daily basis are enslaving folks in more ways than we realize (there’s a reason folks have fondly adopted CrackBerry as an appropriate nickname for their BlackBerry)?
Continue reading iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday