Letter to the editor printed in Christianity Today!

I received an email from a friend this morning saying it was good to see my thoughts in print, and I thought, huh? Last month, Christianity Today had an article on Wal-Mart, to which I wrote a letter to the editor.

Here is a link to the article.

Here is the printed response from yours truly:

"As a campus minister trying to teach college students holistic responsibility, I was somewhat disappointed with May's article on Wal-Mart.

Jeff M. Sellers covers three of the bigger issues, but looks past many others. For example, he only briefly mentions the trend in America of the increase in service-sector jobs. The article also ignores beauty in diversity. Wal-Mart is one of the largest powers of homogenization in American and global culture.

Finally, there is consumerism and the idol of wants. My wife and I have chosen to stop shopping at Wal-Mart and other large chains so that we can support our local economy and not be deluged by every product we could possibly want. When I have to pay more for something, it makes me wait and think, Do I really need this?

More Christians need to ask this question before they buy. The excuse of saving money may fade to the background when we actually consume less (which also means less waste). Thank you for covering a big issue across America and for beginning to ask a good question.

The next question is: "If I don't shop at Wal-Mart as an ethical decision, where else shouldn't I shop?"