From: mijan	Date: April 6th, 2008 03:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Hmmm... the Dutch Brothers have their "optimism creed", which (although wordy) seems mostly harmless. If I were writing a company "optimism statement" or something like that, I'd call it a motto, not a creed, and I'd make it about 1/3 the length of that one. They say they recite it at the end of every meeting. That seems a bit strange to me, but... technically harmless. The wording of the creed seems odd, but what's actually being said isn't dominionist in nature.

They seem to do a lot of charities, including Toys for Tots, local food pantry canned-goods drives, and sending coffee to deployed soldiers. Church-ish, maybe... but still all positive traits. I wonder if there's more behind-the-scenes stuff.

	From: foomf	Date: April 6th, 2008 03:49 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The optimists creed comes from the United Church of Religious Science, which is apparently a non-denominational group intended to promote the positive aspects of spirituality in society. In other words, a bunch of new-agey people who got started 75 or so years ago.

Not sure whether they have dominionist leanings but I saw nothing on their site that screamed of it. They do smell a bit like a cult, but that's possibly because they use phrasing that I've seen in more blatant cults.

	From: mijan	Date: April 6th, 2008 04:10 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ah, got it. I'd never heard of them before. Just read through their website... they're definitely new-age-ish, and I actually like and respect their principles. If more Christian-type groups thought like that, maybe I wouldn't have issues with so many of them.

Back to the coffee shop... yeah, Dutch Bros. seems a bit cultish, but then, doesn't any franchise chain? McDonald's is freakin' scary AND the food is horrible. What specific phrasing? I'm not as familiar with cult stuff - I've been paying more attention to the dominionist takeover of the military and stuff like that.

The way I figure it, any private commercial venture can have their own little themes and whatnot... as long as they don't use their money and influence to push political agendas that hurt people and take away freedoms. There are no Dutch Bros. where I live, so I couldn't even make a point of avoiding it. Here in the Kansas City area, I get my coffee from Whole Foods (definitely cult-like, but with good principles), Dunn Bros (a local private coffee roaster and cafe), and Scooters (a very local chain).

	From: mmoneurere	Date: April 6th, 2008 05:45 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Dutch Bros. just looks like it's on the indoctrination-heavy end of the employee-relations scale. It's a popular approach for, among other things, dissuading employees from unionizing or pushing for better conditions, and it can help create employee support for firing "troublemakers" who try to organize. Not necessarily Dominionist, just garden-variety authority-crazed.

	From: brenisue	Date: April 6th, 2008 03:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The only thing I found on Wendys site was a program to help find adoptive homes for kids, and an animal welfare program to promote humane treatment of animals. Looks like they particpate in local programs as well. They appear to really focused on positive community improvement, I'm not picking up anything particularly dominionist about them.

	From: dogemperor	Date: April 6th, 2008 04:09 pm (UTC)		(Link)

With the exception of Domino's, I've never heard of dominionist support *personally* (esp. not via Wendy's). The most concerning stuff I've seen re Dutch Brothers after a bit of searching is possible associations of one of its founders with Young Life and has supported GOP candidates--still not quite to the extent of, for instance, Gloria Jean's or Hobby Lobby's support of dominionism--worrying mostly in the context of the steeplejacking of Young Life in the US and possibly Australia.

Domino's is a complex case. Formerly Domino's served as a major funding front for dominionist "right to life" groups as well as ultramontaine Catholic causes in general; Domino's may well have stopped funding these once Tom Monaghan retired (his retirement "golden parachute" is now the major funder of his ultramontaine pet projects such as the Ave Maria planned community). So now your main concern with that company well may be just that they serve utterly crap pizza :D

	From: xforge	Date: April 6th, 2008 04:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ave Maria planned community

Mon Dieu!! Shades of Snow Crash!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

	From: virginia_fell	Date: April 6th, 2008 04:40 pm (UTC)		(Link)

It's okay. Soon their money will be just as useless as everyone else's and we'll all switch to KongBucks.

	From: crazyjane13	Date: April 6th, 2008 10:52 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Domino's was funding the Dommies? Ay ay ay. Was this a worldwide thing - cos if it is, I've got some friends who are going to be most annoyed.

Sometimes Domino's was the only thing open - not that it's an excuse.

	From: aphephobia	Date: April 7th, 2008 02:03 am (UTC)		(Link)

Snopes had a link about that and it looks like they've been bought out... (I wonder if the Bain Corp are pro-life whackos, though...) and I think that happened before they came out to Australia.

	From: dogemperor	Date: April 7th, 2008 03:28 am (UTC)		(Link)

This would have been the case up until 1998 or so (after that, he sold the company to Bain Investments for $1 billion US)--and there are people to this day that still boycott the company (though there's no evidence Domino's is paying its founder anymore nor any evidence Domino's profits have gone to dominionist causes since then).

	From: amethyst_hunter	Date: April 7th, 2008 03:35 am (UTC)		(Link)

OT: Sweet icon. :D

	From: xforge	Date: April 6th, 2008 04:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Dave Thomas was very very pro-adoption (Wendy is adopted) and as a result of that rather anti-abortion. But I don't think he was that bad as regards dominionism and so forth. I heard the same thing about Domino's - that they used to be bad but aren't nearly as bad now.

What about Chick-Fil-A? Have you seen the proselytizing posters on the walls inside their employee areas? Holy moley, er, no pun intended.

	From: madamehel	Date: April 6th, 2008 05:26 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Dave Thomas was adopted

	From: xforge	Date: April 6th, 2008 06:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Really? Dang, must've missed that when I saw his biography on some cable channel or other. How cool.

	From: aphephobia	Date: April 7th, 2008 02:05 am (UTC)		(Link)

Chick-Fil-A were mentioned on this community last week, I think it was.

Thankfully, I've never encountered them, but... yeah. They sound like baaaad news. :/

	From: dogemperor	Date: April 7th, 2008 03:46 am (UTC)		(Link)

Well, seeing as Chick-Fil-A has been blatant enough to slip in Focus on the Family-produced programs in kiddie meal boxes as toy incentives (as a method of snaring in Junior)...well, that should give you a general idea as to the practical bent of the company :P

	From: dogemperor	Date: April 7th, 2008 03:42 am (UTC)		(Link)

Dave Thomas is very pro-adoption (and, to an extent, anti-abortion) because he himself is an adoptee--but Wendy's never really has done anything as far as funding dominionist groups. (Kids' groups in general, sure. They actually helped fund a sick kid's camp in Newport, KY when they bought partial ownership of Tim Horton's (Timmie's owns the camp in full now, and Newport is probably one of the few places in the States outside of the US/Canadian border area or Columbus that actually has a Tim Horton's). Nothing like shlepping funds to Teen Challenge or anything like that, though.)

As for Chick-Fil-A, their dominionist links are pretty damn well documented--Chick-Fil-A's relationship with Campus Crusade and Focus on the Family is close enough that they act as a de facto recruitment and funding front for both groups, and Chick-Fil-A is one of the four largest corporate sponsors of dominionist orgs in the United States. (Only AmWay and Hobby Lobby are even more direct funders of dominionism; Hobby Lobby acts as a de facto funding front for the Assemblies of God's international missions programs, and AmWay and the Assemblies operate de facto as "conjoined twin" coercive groups that heavily co-recruit. Interestingly, Campus Crusade and the Assemblies *also* have a very similar "co-recruitment"/"conjoined twin" relationship (and some have even argued Campus Crusade should be treated as a de facto Assemblies front).)

	From: flamekaat	Date: April 7th, 2008 06:54 am (UTC)		(Link)

Well here in Wendover we don't have much. We have Arbys, Mcdonalds, Burger king, Starbucks, and a Pizza Hut. Other then that we have casino food and taco trucks and local resturants (2) Both mexican food places. We would have to go almost 2 hours down the highway to see anything really super questionable. I am however surprised to hear bad things about Campus Crusade. I attended their meetings when a Friend of mine at the comunity college over in Elko suggested I do so. It was just like sunday school. memorize your bible verse. Volunteer for the thanksgiving food drive, help paint the supply cabinent for the club meeting room with the School mascot. Things like that. I eventually quit going because I had so little time to spare from work, but there ya go.

	From: thegrungediva	Date: April 8th, 2008 08:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I distrust any organization that thinks a "Crusade" is a good thing.

I've never actually been to a Campus Crusade meeting, but I have talked to CC people, and as far as I can tell, they're all dommies, and I want nothing to do with them.

BTW, thank you, all, for your info on Dutch Bros, Wendy's, and Dominos. I had done the web searches, and found some of the info you all had, but it was nice to get confirmations of some of the info you can't find on the web. I am glad to hear that when the bigwigs retired, they took their dommie leanings with them. Yes, corporate zombification may be evil, but it's not as bad as dominionism, so I can go back to eating cardboard pizza and fattening burgers with pride :)

	From: lurkitty	Date: April 6th, 2008 07:15 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Here is a bit of a history of Dutch Brothers. It was started by a couple of farmers from Grants Pass, Oregon. Grants Pass is not the most liberal of Oregon cities, and Oregon farmers tend to be on the more "old guard" Republican side (rather than neo-conservative). I sincerely doubt that they tend dominionist.

I go to Dutch Brothers a lot. They allow their employees a wide range of personal expression, from goths to flannel shirts. I worry far less about them than the church-run coffee kiosks in town.

	From: foomf	Date: April 6th, 2008 10:29 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Grant's Pass? AHA! I knew the name was familiar! Yeah, that was a real surprise to find a GOOD coffee house in the bowels of Grant's Pass.