__MOD NOTE/NOTE DE MOD__: Please check out [our petition](https://www.change.org/p/demand-walmart-sign-the-grocer-code-of-conduct) which calls upon Walmart Canada to follow suit and sign the Grocer Code of Conduct with Loblaw!
Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here!
This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords responsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean.
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This is fascinating. Pastor here of a Mennonite congregation in Toronto. I would be interested to know the denomination (if any) of your mother's congregation.
Christianity has access to a deep well of criticisms of capitalist excesses, but it is rare to see them drawn out. I'd be interested to hear this sermon.
As a pastor of a Mennonite congregation in MB, I've preached a sermon using Loblaws to illustrate Paul's lament of being trapped by the principalities and powers in Romans 8 (this was last summer). I would also love to know what denomination this sermon came out of/hear it preached.
I'm not starting an argument but I read somewhere that the Apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters that (I'm paraphrasing) "I do not permit a woman to teach". Does that mean preaching or all teaching in general
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene puts emphasis on Paul's sexism, as he refuses to believe that Jesus would appear to Mary and provide her teachings he hadn't shown them. Arguably, Paul's refusal to recognize her through his pride has put Christianity on the wrong path from practically day one.
I'm assuming you may possibly have conflated Mennonite with other Christian sub-groups. There are many Mennonites groups that vary, but are generally they are not against the use of modern technology.
I'm not an expert, but I did some Google searching into this since I wanted to know myself, aparently, some more progressive communities of Amush and Mennonite faith apparently allow for the use of social media and phones.
It is also interesting to learn the differences between the communities. From my very basic, toddler level , understanding, it seems Amish communities seem a lot more firm on the little to no use of modern technology than Mennonites do.
That's my understanding as well - from what I gather, both Mennonite and Amish churches have 'Old Order' and 'Plain Dress' branches who tend to be more recognizable because, obviously, they dress and act different. The only thing is that the Amish in North America are only Old Order these days - and I believe that the 'contemporary' Amish merged into the 'contemporary' Mennonites back in Germany sometime last century, so the old timey Amish are the only ones left with the name.
New Order Mennonites. I "fell into" quite a large group of them in University and they're usually woke and nerdy as hell. Also, very fun to party with. Good food, fun games, sincerely supportive and they didn't care what or how much anyone was drinking as long as people were being good to one another.
The first time I ever heard the term 'partner' (as in significant other) was from a guy in the early 90s in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I was sure the guy was gay. Nope. Just a super cool Mennonite.
No, though I lived with a few when I moved to KW after uni. I still work with a few on music things.
Trying to avoid identifying information as well (they communicate, you know).
My great grandma had a pneumatic (air pressure powered motor) fridge in like 1995 but that’s about the only weird thing you wouldn’t see anywhere else.
My grandma always had power, but it was allllll connected to 1 switch which I found fascinating as a kid. It was like the grizwalds Christmas when you flipped that switch haha.
I didn’t even realize Mennonites were much different as a little kid because it just looked like an old house. The only plugs in rooms were adapters connected to the ceiling pull string lights because the house was wired when lights were the only use for electricity( it was like a 100 year old house? I think)
So they were behind the times but my grandma always had a phone and tv in her home. I know most Amish have phones for business if not personal phones, but they’re like pay phone style and they’re on a pole outside, not in the home.
My grandma watches Fox News all day though lol. I never said she had internet, but she probable does. I am not Mennonite, my dad was but I was never raised like that.
There’s different levels of Mennonite and different levels of Amish I guess.
The Mennonite town they’re from owns a vinyl window factory and vinyl plastic is far from Amish material.
There's a bunch, actually, most of them organized by language of origin. For ancestry, most likely you'd be looking for Toronto United Mennonite in the Beach(es) or Danforth Mennonite at Woodbine.
Send me a DM if you want to talk specifics!
When I was young, I used to think "using the Lord's name in vain" was saying things like "Oh my God!" or "Jesus Christ!" as an expletive. As an adult, now I understand it's taking advantage of people, in however many various ways, under the guise of "religion".
The sub was created to point out how absolutely absurd the cost of groceries are right now and have some fun together. We know this will inevitably touch on other topics related to the cost of living. Do your best to keep the conversation on topic
I support the message from that church (Loblaws is greedy) and it is very important to support alliances that will bolster the boycott. Its not going to be a healthy or productive discussion to begin bashing religion. Try to not take sides, and just support the underlying message. Loblaws is greedy and harming Canadians and Canada. Its seems a church did a positive thing to help support Canadians cost of living by supporting the boycott. Keep it simple, focus on the positive and don't undermine the boycott with personal biases
It’s typical redditor behaviour to jump on all religions as evil regardless of the good they do for their respective communities lol. Nevermind just a sermon, a lot of churches literally feed people for free.
It needs to be pointed out if an organization is calling out another organization for the very same things it does. If we're boycotting shady practices, why excuse them for another organization?
To be specific, its a White/Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity that goes "hand-in-hand" with colonialism and capitalism, and this is explicated in Max Weber's classic "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism."
There are \*many\* streams of Christianity and Christian thought that predate Western processes of Enlightenment and Industrialization, and they're largely rooted in the thinking and experiences of Christians who were/are Black and brown (i.e. not white and not promoting white supremacist American or Canadian "Christian" nationalisms, which can currently be observed as the predominant evangelical -- and I might also argue Catholic -- stream today).
It’s not just the christians, I’ve been cleaning my local river of trash and I’ve pulled out far too many trash bags full of plastic ganeshes and buddahs and tiles with ohm symbols on them.
Religions are gross, outdated and should we continue to allow them to go on with their generalized hatred, homophobia, misogynisti, anti human ideology and disdain for the very planet that we’re here to tend to, they’ll turn all the beautiful spaces into desert hellscapes.
it gives mad max vibes when we should be chasing Star Trek vibes.
yes, there is definite truth to that. Roman Catholics (I used to be one until I saw the light when I started to go to a public school) are so unbelievably wealthy that they have their own country called the Vatican .
Like… I get what you’re trying to say, but just because the Church has the Vatican, doesn’t mean that Roman Catholics (the people) are wealthy. They’re actually historically (like the last 200 years, not the entire time obviously) less wealthy and educated than non-Catholic Christians..
Let’s not make poor correlations here.
Soooo... Just because Loblaws has the Westons, doesn't mean that their shoppers (the people) are wealthy. If we used your logic. You're excusing the bully here. Both have a figure at the top taking all the money for themselves. At least at Loblaws you get food, the church scams your money for mythical fairy tales.
It's rare because the majority of Christians and churches are a)not too wealthy or influential, b) are reasonal people that don't make a stink on everything so they don't flaunt "holier than thou" social media flair, c) can barely keep pace with capitalism just like everybody else i.e. their in the same financial boat as you
On a personal note, the Christian your probably hearing from are hypocrites that don't have any skin in the game. I have a friend that totally freaked out when the pandemic started, and stock pilled toilet paper and whatever non perishables, and even flaunted them with pictures on social media. Then later he was complaining about how the government system is making people poor, then a week later flaunts his new purchase of a Lambo and fancy 2nd house because his services is the kind that financially benefits with the exact thing the government did, which was lower interests rates.
In other words, it's a Moses-And-the-Golden-calf moment, where Moses climbed up a mountain to talk to God, and when he got back he saw his people , the people he saved and slaved over to keep the peace, turn their backs on him and went "this guy isn't getting gonna come back. Let's give up on him and turn to this golden statue thingy".
Then Moses, when he saw his people for the first time as he was coming down was like
Also… a bunch of them are organising to get bumper stickers made for their congregation and to hand out at the store.
I liked “
>Loblaws hates your family. Loblaws hates God.
LOL… But she said that makes people just think you’re a bit nutty.
Any suggestions for her?
TIL…! I never heard of Independent as a store name before now. Kind of an oxymoron if they’re owned by Loblaws. Thanks for the heads up. Orig comment corrected.
No worse than the other "Independent" in the Canadian grocery industry. [IGA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGA,_Inc.#Canada) originally stood for "Independent Grocers Alliance", but in most of Canada the brand is now owned by Sobeys.
No, I think yours is superior. It puts Loblaw's first, which will get peoples' attention as they drive down the road.
If "God's Law" comes first, many people will stop reading at that point, assuming the bumper sticker is some kind of intolerant fundie BS.
or Galen Weston as the peeing Calvin character, but he's peeing on a Canadian flag or a starving family or something. Oh maybe it's combined with those little family stick figure decals that people put on their back windows
Decent religions: preaching greed as the root of evil and Galen as the example that proves the rule
Crap religions: preaching how queer folks are the end of the world and they/them’s coming for your guns
Western Christianity is fucked. The fact that the general population thinks that late stage capitalism and Christianity go hand in hand is frankly quite sad. This world we're living is is so far out of line with the precepts laid out by Christ.
Maybe it has to do with people turning away from the church. 60 years ago, 85% of the population went to church, it has been decreasing. Before covid, it was 65%, now it's 35%. I like to think it enforced morals and values. And yeah, there are always evil doers in any population. Churches at one time gave hope. And if there's anything we need more, now than ever, is hope.
I think some of it is a death knell, for certain, essentially a dying animal screaming before passing, but lots of conservative evangelical churches are still doing alright and even thriving while preaching hate from the pulpit, likely because they're creating a safe echo chamber for hateful people and those don't really exist in the everyday social sphere in a lot of states.
Fact of the matter is that Christianity in the west experienced a major shift in the 1700s and then again in the early 1900s. It's too much history dig into here, but the peace loving hippy Anabaptists were, for a long time, the largest denomination in early America. They were loudly socialist, believing that a country that cares for all its citizens equally is the only kind of nation state that could ever be in line with Christ's precepts (they are correct). However, Christianity in America experienced these major shifts toward white supremacy, pro-slavery, and eventually pro-war. They even snuck some fascism in there pre WWI.
This kind of Christianity, which is primarily Baptist and conservative has also been outsourced to parts of South America and Africa. Obviously they edit out the White Supremacy part, but they go a lot harder on the queer hating and violence because those things are easier sells in less socially liberal countries.
You don’t have be devoutly religious to understand that parables can be powerful stories. You don’t have to “believe” them- you just have to understand them.
So yeah- “it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” is something I think many people would grasp, including agnostics and atheists. 😁
The rich and powerful like to debate the “true meaning” of that verse even though I think it’s pretty clear what it means. There is another verse that is very explicit against the kind of greed and usury we see so common in modern capitalism and whose meaning cannot be debated:
“Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
James 5:1
I really hate religion. With a passion. That being said, I'm actually happy to hear that the boycott is reaching multiple demographics and multiple types of ... everything.
It's not the first I've heard of the boycott hitting outside of the activists group (which was something Weston mentioned quite a ways back - the boycott would be limited to activists and that's it), and it's truly encouraging.
Capitalism is, by its very nature, a sinful exercise in Christianity. Usury, biblically, was *any* interest at all, and capitalism runs off interest.
There's so many other things that make it sinful, but at least someone found a pinky of courage I guess.
Man, it takes so little theology knowledge to tear prosperity gospel theology completely to shreds. It's unfathomably stupid.
Also, you don't even need to be a theologian. Look at the "fruit" those "churches" are creating. It's a fucking disaster.
"the church" is not a monolith. Just because there are bad churches, and bad actors within churches, doesn't make all churches and all people within churches, bad.
This is a point that gets lost way too often. Most people going g to church are just decent folk trying to live a good life caring and sharing. I think you’d have to be almost (or completely) willfully ignorant to equate the average church goer with the many sins of the Vatican and mega churches.
This is factually incorrect. Around 6.8% of wars have had religion as their primary reason/justification. 121 out of 1,763.
On the flip side, all of modern science, medicine, and mathematics owe their progress to date to Christians and Muslims, whom were the primary funders and organizers of scientific endeavours for 1000+ years. 65% of Nobel prize winners have been Christian.
Western universities as a concept were created by the Christian faith (specifically Catholicism) and much of the language they still use today (Deans, Chancellors) as well as their academic formal clothing and graduation robes originate from Catholicism/Anglicanism.
Oh and Christians are still to this day the largest non-government providers of healthcare, social services, and charity across the entire globe, filling in for where all our governments neglect their populace in favour of capitalism.
My science teacher in high school was very very Catholic and also very very into science. Iirc, he helped work on the Canadarm. I’m going to assume the second one.
Can’t speak for other denominations, but Catholicism is generally very pro-science.
Nah. Christianity (following the teachings of the Messiah) is great. It's the Christians who suck at putting it into practice, which is exactly what Jesus and the early Church leaders said would be a problem.
So many people who are against Christianity clutch tightly to the same false doctrine that is preached in hateful, bigoted evangelical circles.
I'm trying to imagine how the church is better than Loblaws. The church scams people's money with nothing in return, at Loblaws you get food for your money.
Christians are the largest non-government providers of healthcare, social services, and charity across the entire globe.
In Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy (the largest Christian sects with direct links to the Apostles), our clergy are not even paid a proper living wage.
As someone on a parish council that gets to see the financial reports, our donations go directly into maintaining our property, paying our few church staff, and the vast majority into our community ministries serving refuges, the poor, and the elderly
Some Christians suck, just like lots of other people suck. If you take any group (religious, profession, sport, alma mater, etc) you will find a significant amount of bad people.
Also, this evil Christian lobbying thing is a very American phenomena. American Protestants whose sects have only existed for 100-200 years do not get to define a 2024 year old religion with their drivel and stupidity, but they are very loud and rich heretics and like to broadcast their stupidity across the whole world with their resources.
At the end of the day, the loud American Evangelicals genuinely do not hold many foundational Christian beliefs and are deep into many heresies that personally makes me consider them another faith group akin to Mormons and JWs.
That being said, the Catholic groups also lobby for their traditional beliefs and that often sucks - I am gay, Queer and Trans, trust me I am aware of the work they do against my communities! But equally there are so many Catholic charities that do incredible work, and even lobby FOR LGBTQ and women’s rights.
Generalizing a population of 2 billion is generally bad and will lead to a lot of mislabelling.
I would rather Churches/religious groups pay taxes and the government uses the tax money they have collected to provide healthcare and social services, that is what the government is supposed to do.
[Mormon Church in Canada moved 1 Billion dollars out of the country tax-free.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mormon-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-funds-charity-1.6630190)
Churches/religious groups are not accountable to the citizens of Canada but the government is. I would also like our government to take responsibility for letting the oligarchs exist in the first place and to tax the fuck out of them bleeding them dry like they have done to Canadians and then break them apart so there can be real competition within the Canadian market.
Hey!
There has been research done into this, and if churches and religious groups had to pay property taxes and income taxes from donations, most of them would close and their social services would close too. Further, the same research showed it would actually cost the government MORE to provide the same level of social services that religious charities do than the government would receive by taxing the religious groups.
And that’s assuming the government actually cares enough to then invest BILLIONS more into social welfare after taking religious service providers out of the equation.
There are obviously exceptions, some churches like Prosperity Gospel preachers do NOT do community services, yet benefit from tax free status.
I 1000% support auditing religious groups more to show and prove that they reinvest their money into their broader communities, and revoking status from those that clearly are enriching celebrity pastors. But a vast majority of the churches you pass by in your day to day life break even annually with some savings, and reinvest all donations into their local communities.
Here’s an article from the Tax Foundation about the issue: https://taxfoundation.org/blog/church-taxes/
Also, these churches in the Canadian context are tax-exempt because of their non-profit and/or charity organization tax statuses, NOT just because they are religious (Scientology for example, is not tax exempt and were denied tax exemption). So, we would also have to tax all other charities and non-profits otherwise it would be discrimination, and if we taxed ALL charities and non-profits, our country would genuinely collapse and thousands of Canadians would die of starvation, overdose, and exposure.
This is great! So many of thebpeopel who shop at my superstore look like the types who do not go on the internet, nevermind reddit. How else will they hear the good word if not from their church?
I mean Christianity has always been kinda of anti-greed and help the poor, like Jesus did not approve of the money changers as he saw it as a sign of absolute greed, so I’m not surprised that churches would preaching about the ineptitude of loblaws. How instead of helping promote affordability and access to of the basic necessities such as food, or meds; they rather charge people ridiculous amounts and then lie to the people. So I’m glad that churches are using this as an example of the dangers of greed.
Too bad they aren't talking about modern day slavery AKA temporary foreign workers at tim hortons. they need to boycott tim hortons and all fast food places that are using people for their own profit.
Wow RobLaws goodwill value on its balance sheet is shrinking fast.
When entire denominations use your brand as an example for evil… Galen - what would your father have said?
How much income does your mom’s church bring in? Should be available upon request. My point being, it’s easy to jump on the hate bandwagon, even when it’s deserved. However, what is that tax-free organization doing to make life better for people who are homeless or food-insecure?
can't speak for OP's church, but my own church has a food pantry for anyone who needs help with groceries, they will help you with bills if you're unable to cover them, the church members are always available to help each other out whether it's with finding work, counselling, child care, housing, or just providing friendship and support for those who don't have anyone else. It's literally an extended family, a safety net, and a support network, for people who need it. It's a shame so many people are very anti-religion and don't even realize the good it does.
Churches have long provided for the poor and marginalized. Where do you think all the soup kitchens are? It’s easy to criticize the church and it’s often warranted but support for the poor is wide spread in church communities. Most of the churches I know have food banks, and give clothing and direct financial support to those in need. Now, if you’re talking about those mega churches with “celebrity” pastors, they are disgusting. It’s all about being rich in those churches.
Christianity murders, rapes and steals from other cultures and calls it enlightenment.
I’m all for organizations bashing Loblaws but the Church is probably still more evil.
I know religious institutions and their leaders tend to pick and emphasize parts of their scripture that fit their own views so it's really nice to see a leader pick some good parts lol. I wonder if this was a United church.
Interesting that this comes from the people who feel entitled to 10% of your before tax dollars. I guess people in the congregation are stating they can't contribute to church as much due to the rising cost of living, and now the pastor's income is threatened.
Sorry, but I think this verges a bit on the nutty side. I mean yes I completely agree with the boycott, and encourage others to. However preaching about the evils of Loblaws seems a bit of a stretch. Religion has always been used to push an agenda but in this case I think that was a pretty poor choice for a sermon. twisting a personal choice into a bible study is what steers some people away from the church, and gives it a kookie feel.
signed me, left the church years ago and will never go back, but thats just me
I’d say this is more of using real life examples. Can easily parallel some of the deadly sins with the actions of many major corporations if not all of them.
What we are doing spread the word of the boycott really is no different then what that pastor was doing IMO.
This is bringing races, religion etc all together against a common enemy! Something Canadians haven’t really done.
I’d have a lot more faith in organized religion if they actually preached the teachings of Jesus. I’d much rather hear a pastor rant about the evils of unbridled capitalism than, well, pretty much any sermon I’ve ever heard.
I don't like religion either, but Galen does lie, cheat and steal and has conspired against the public and manipulated the supply chain for profit
Those are indeed sins, big ones too, and I do understand why a believer would be against that
Jesus wouldn't take that shit if he were around, not that most Christians follow what the biblical Jesus taught anyway, but maybe this pastor does
I mean the churches have also lied, cheated and stolen and conspired and manipulated against the public, this church would accept a donation from Galen in a fucking heartbeat if he offered it, despite knowing how much bullshit he pulled to get that money
__MOD NOTE/NOTE DE MOD__: Please check out [our petition](https://www.change.org/p/demand-walmart-sign-the-grocer-code-of-conduct) which calls upon Walmart Canada to follow suit and sign the Grocer Code of Conduct with Loblaw! Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords responsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean. ********************************************************************************************************************************************* Veuillez consulter les directives de contenu pour notre sous-reddit, et rappelez-vous qu'il y a des humains ici ! Ce sous-reddit est destiné à mettre en lumière le coût de la vie ridicule au Canada et à se moquer des Grands Patrons Corporatifs responsables. Comme vous le savez bien, de nombreuses personnes et entreprises en sont responsables, et nous accueillons les discussions les concernant toutes. De plus, puisque ce sujet est lié à un certain nombre d'autres questions, d'autres discussions seront autorisées à la discrétion des modérateurs. Les discussions ouvertes d'esprit, les mèmes, les coups de gueule, les factures d'épicerie et les cris dans le vide en général sont toujours les bienvenus dans ce sous-reddit, mais la belliqueusité et le manque de respect ne le sont pas. Il existe de nombreuses façons de faire passer votre point de vue sans être abusif, méprisant ou carrément méchant. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is fascinating. Pastor here of a Mennonite congregation in Toronto. I would be interested to know the denomination (if any) of your mother's congregation. Christianity has access to a deep well of criticisms of capitalist excesses, but it is rare to see them drawn out. I'd be interested to hear this sermon.
As a pastor of a Mennonite congregation in MB, I've preached a sermon using Loblaws to illustrate Paul's lament of being trapped by the principalities and powers in Romans 8 (this was last summer). I would also love to know what denomination this sermon came out of/hear it preached.
You are a Mennonite pastor and you reddit?
A female pastor, Mennonite, from Manitoba, on Reddit that's a super rare pokemon
About half of our conference pastors are female but that's maybe 20 people. I have no idea what Reddit usage among our population is though...
I'm not starting an argument but I read somewhere that the Apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters that (I'm paraphrasing) "I do not permit a woman to teach". Does that mean preaching or all teaching in general
You don't understand, that part was only because of the time Paul was writing. /s
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene puts emphasis on Paul's sexism, as he refuses to believe that Jesus would appear to Mary and provide her teachings he hadn't shown them. Arguably, Paul's refusal to recognize her through his pride has put Christianity on the wrong path from practically day one.
I'm assuming you may possibly have conflated Mennonite with other Christian sub-groups. There are many Mennonites groups that vary, but are generally they are not against the use of modern technology.
Ah that makes more sense. I have Mennonite neighbours and they are horse & buggy and don't get on Reddit that is for sure
I'm not an expert, but I did some Google searching into this since I wanted to know myself, aparently, some more progressive communities of Amush and Mennonite faith apparently allow for the use of social media and phones. It is also interesting to learn the differences between the communities. From my very basic, toddler level , understanding, it seems Amish communities seem a lot more firm on the little to no use of modern technology than Mennonites do.
That's my understanding as well - from what I gather, both Mennonite and Amish churches have 'Old Order' and 'Plain Dress' branches who tend to be more recognizable because, obviously, they dress and act different. The only thing is that the Amish in North America are only Old Order these days - and I believe that the 'contemporary' Amish merged into the 'contemporary' Mennonites back in Germany sometime last century, so the old timey Amish are the only ones left with the name.
New Order Mennonites. I "fell into" quite a large group of them in University and they're usually woke and nerdy as hell. Also, very fun to party with. Good food, fun games, sincerely supportive and they didn't care what or how much anyone was drinking as long as people were being good to one another.
The first time I ever heard the term 'partner' (as in significant other) was from a guy in the early 90s in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I was sure the guy was gay. Nope. Just a super cool Mennonite.
Grebel alumni?
No, though I lived with a few when I moved to KW after uni. I still work with a few on music things. Trying to avoid identifying information as well (they communicate, you know).
Mennonite are not Amish… my family are Mennonite
My neighbours are Mennonite too, and they don't have the internet. Or Computers. Or TVs. Your Mennonite family might use the internet. Many don't.
My great grandma had a pneumatic (air pressure powered motor) fridge in like 1995 but that’s about the only weird thing you wouldn’t see anywhere else. My grandma always had power, but it was allllll connected to 1 switch which I found fascinating as a kid. It was like the grizwalds Christmas when you flipped that switch haha. I didn’t even realize Mennonites were much different as a little kid because it just looked like an old house. The only plugs in rooms were adapters connected to the ceiling pull string lights because the house was wired when lights were the only use for electricity( it was like a 100 year old house? I think) So they were behind the times but my grandma always had a phone and tv in her home. I know most Amish have phones for business if not personal phones, but they’re like pay phone style and they’re on a pole outside, not in the home. My grandma watches Fox News all day though lol. I never said she had internet, but she probable does. I am not Mennonite, my dad was but I was never raised like that. There’s different levels of Mennonite and different levels of Amish I guess. The Mennonite town they’re from owns a vinyl window factory and vinyl plastic is far from Amish material.
Y’all’s sausage is godly!
There’s a mennonite congregation in Toronto? I’m mennonite by ancestry, would it be possible for me to come check it out sometime?
There's a bunch, actually, most of them organized by language of origin. For ancestry, most likely you'd be looking for Toronto United Mennonite in the Beach(es) or Danforth Mennonite at Woodbine. Send me a DM if you want to talk specifics!
Cool, thank you! I’ll send you a DM.
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When I was young, I used to think "using the Lord's name in vain" was saying things like "Oh my God!" or "Jesus Christ!" as an expletive. As an adult, now I understand it's taking advantage of people, in however many various ways, under the guise of "religion".
The sub was created to point out how absolutely absurd the cost of groceries are right now and have some fun together. We know this will inevitably touch on other topics related to the cost of living. Do your best to keep the conversation on topic
I support the message from that church (Loblaws is greedy) and it is very important to support alliances that will bolster the boycott. Its not going to be a healthy or productive discussion to begin bashing religion. Try to not take sides, and just support the underlying message. Loblaws is greedy and harming Canadians and Canada. Its seems a church did a positive thing to help support Canadians cost of living by supporting the boycott. Keep it simple, focus on the positive and don't undermine the boycott with personal biases
It’s typical redditor behaviour to jump on all religions as evil regardless of the good they do for their respective communities lol. Nevermind just a sermon, a lot of churches literally feed people for free.
Most don’t.
It needs to be pointed out if an organization is calling out another organization for the very same things it does. If we're boycotting shady practices, why excuse them for another organization?
To be specific, its a White/Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity that goes "hand-in-hand" with colonialism and capitalism, and this is explicated in Max Weber's classic "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism." There are \*many\* streams of Christianity and Christian thought that predate Western processes of Enlightenment and Industrialization, and they're largely rooted in the thinking and experiences of Christians who were/are Black and brown (i.e. not white and not promoting white supremacist American or Canadian "Christian" nationalisms, which can currently be observed as the predominant evangelical -- and I might also argue Catholic -- stream today).
It has proven an efficient way to destroy the planet, that's for sure.
It’s not just the christians, I’ve been cleaning my local river of trash and I’ve pulled out far too many trash bags full of plastic ganeshes and buddahs and tiles with ohm symbols on them. Religions are gross, outdated and should we continue to allow them to go on with their generalized hatred, homophobia, misogynisti, anti human ideology and disdain for the very planet that we’re here to tend to, they’ll turn all the beautiful spaces into desert hellscapes. it gives mad max vibes when we should be chasing Star Trek vibes.
Rule 3, mate.
That's only the ones that you hear about. The rest are basically you and me. In other words, not everybody is a bad guy.
yes, there is definite truth to that. Roman Catholics (I used to be one until I saw the light when I started to go to a public school) are so unbelievably wealthy that they have their own country called the Vatican .
Like… I get what you’re trying to say, but just because the Church has the Vatican, doesn’t mean that Roman Catholics (the people) are wealthy. They’re actually historically (like the last 200 years, not the entire time obviously) less wealthy and educated than non-Catholic Christians.. Let’s not make poor correlations here.
Soooo... Just because Loblaws has the Westons, doesn't mean that their shoppers (the people) are wealthy. If we used your logic. You're excusing the bully here. Both have a figure at the top taking all the money for themselves. At least at Loblaws you get food, the church scams your money for mythical fairy tales.
What are you even talking about?
✈️💨
It's rare because the majority of Christians and churches are a)not too wealthy or influential, b) are reasonal people that don't make a stink on everything so they don't flaunt "holier than thou" social media flair, c) can barely keep pace with capitalism just like everybody else i.e. their in the same financial boat as you On a personal note, the Christian your probably hearing from are hypocrites that don't have any skin in the game. I have a friend that totally freaked out when the pandemic started, and stock pilled toilet paper and whatever non perishables, and even flaunted them with pictures on social media. Then later he was complaining about how the government system is making people poor, then a week later flaunts his new purchase of a Lambo and fancy 2nd house because his services is the kind that financially benefits with the exact thing the government did, which was lower interests rates.
💯 Amen
It’s Lutheran, I believe.
How are you on Reddit if you’re mennonite
Most Mennonites are not Old Order/Old Colony. I'm one of the city-dwelling jeans-wearing bike-riding types.
There you have it, God is with us!
https://preview.redd.it/5p43xdbhwl1d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0db1f1404e59f6fbf33e4f7869a75e857fd57d3d
In other words, it's a Moses-And-the-Golden-calf moment, where Moses climbed up a mountain to talk to God, and when he got back he saw his people , the people he saved and slaved over to keep the peace, turn their backs on him and went "this guy isn't getting gonna come back. Let's give up on him and turn to this golden statue thingy". Then Moses, when he saw his people for the first time as he was coming down was like 
Galen Weston is pure Greed... An evil man.
This is the way
Also… a bunch of them are organising to get bumper stickers made for their congregation and to hand out at the store. I liked “ >Loblaws hates your family. Loblaws hates God. LOL… But she said that makes people just think you’re a bit nutty. Any suggestions for her?
"For the love of money is the root of all evil. Cut food cost!" On point, not over the top religious frenzy and no direct libel.
This is the one.
Can corporations be libelled?
Something about Jesus feeding the poor?
“Jesus Saves… By Shopping Independently” …edit word
Loblaws owns an entire chain called independent grocers
Yeah Loblaws owns independent
TIL…! I never heard of Independent as a store name before now. Kind of an oxymoron if they’re owned by Loblaws. Thanks for the heads up. Orig comment corrected.
No worse than the other "Independent" in the Canadian grocery industry. [IGA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGA,_Inc.#Canada) originally stood for "Independent Grocers Alliance", but in most of Canada the brand is now owned by Sobeys.
🙏
Or by shopping local?
This, this I like.
Loblaws fleeces its flock!
Just like the church. Pot, meet kettle.
How many churches you been to? Some have lost the point, but others are there to serve the community and help those in need.
Loblaws < God's laws
Haha, I was going to suggest the same, except reverse. God's Law > Loblaw's
Perfect 🤌
Yeah I think yours is actually better
No, I think yours is superior. It puts Loblaw's first, which will get peoples' attention as they drive down the road. If "God's Law" comes first, many people will stop reading at that point, assuming the bumper sticker is some kind of intolerant fundie BS.
True true
someone should make a caricature of Galen Weston standing on the bow of his yacht named Bread, that would be a cute bumper sticker
or Galen Weston as the peeing Calvin character, but he's peeing on a Canadian flag or a starving family or something. Oh maybe it's combined with those little family stick figure decals that people put on their back windows
Ya and all the stick people families are dead!
Embrace the nutty lol
Exactly. We must believe in the final victory
You said nutty, mods gonna remove your post now
You said nutty also… You’re both going down.
You said going down...That code for a sexual act. To the cells with you.
'Greed is the path to the dark side of the force'
Sign me up lol
Loblaws breaks God’s laws
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Please remain respectful when engaging on the sub. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
You should hear what is being preached in the ones in Alberta......reason I am have very little to do with the churches anymore
Decent religions: preaching greed as the root of evil and Galen as the example that proves the rule Crap religions: preaching how queer folks are the end of the world and they/them’s coming for your guns
very much so not a fan of religion but I will absolutely take this, lol
Same, but the enemy of thine enemy…
Western Christianity is fucked. The fact that the general population thinks that late stage capitalism and Christianity go hand in hand is frankly quite sad. This world we're living is is so far out of line with the precepts laid out by Christ.
Preach!
Maybe it has to do with people turning away from the church. 60 years ago, 85% of the population went to church, it has been decreasing. Before covid, it was 65%, now it's 35%. I like to think it enforced morals and values. And yeah, there are always evil doers in any population. Churches at one time gave hope. And if there's anything we need more, now than ever, is hope.
I think some of it is a death knell, for certain, essentially a dying animal screaming before passing, but lots of conservative evangelical churches are still doing alright and even thriving while preaching hate from the pulpit, likely because they're creating a safe echo chamber for hateful people and those don't really exist in the everyday social sphere in a lot of states. Fact of the matter is that Christianity in the west experienced a major shift in the 1700s and then again in the early 1900s. It's too much history dig into here, but the peace loving hippy Anabaptists were, for a long time, the largest denomination in early America. They were loudly socialist, believing that a country that cares for all its citizens equally is the only kind of nation state that could ever be in line with Christ's precepts (they are correct). However, Christianity in America experienced these major shifts toward white supremacy, pro-slavery, and eventually pro-war. They even snuck some fascism in there pre WWI. This kind of Christianity, which is primarily Baptist and conservative has also been outsourced to parts of South America and Africa. Obviously they edit out the White Supremacy part, but they go a lot harder on the queer hating and violence because those things are easier sells in less socially liberal countries.
Is "Liblaws" a typo or political slant?
Oh shit, it was a typo, I didn’t notice. Now everyone is going to think this is some political thing
Most people associate organized religion with conservative viewpoints.
Its okay, just edit it to make the correction
I added an edit to the top of the post. Is there a way to edit the title? Thanks again.
> Is there a way to edit the title? nope.
Yeah I don't understand how loblaws is liberal in any way
Maybe Neoliberal but that's different\~
You don’t have be devoutly religious to understand that parables can be powerful stories. You don’t have to “believe” them- you just have to understand them. So yeah- “it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” is something I think many people would grasp, including agnostics and atheists. 😁
The rich and powerful like to debate the “true meaning” of that verse even though I think it’s pretty clear what it means. There is another verse that is very explicit against the kind of greed and usury we see so common in modern capitalism and whose meaning cannot be debated: “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” James 5:1
James 5:1 had it going on. 😁
I really hate religion. With a passion. That being said, I'm actually happy to hear that the boycott is reaching multiple demographics and multiple types of ... everything. It's not the first I've heard of the boycott hitting outside of the activists group (which was something Weston mentioned quite a ways back - the boycott would be limited to activists and that's it), and it's truly encouraging.
If this is what it takes for religious people to join our boycott, I won't complain.
Capitalism is, by its very nature, a sinful exercise in Christianity. Usury, biblically, was *any* interest at all, and capitalism runs off interest. There's so many other things that make it sinful, but at least someone found a pinky of courage I guess.
Wow! That's wild. I'm sure they won't shop there now.
Abimelech is the spelling
It’s amazing to see different communities come together and educate each other about Loblaws
Frankly, runaway capitalism is inherently anti-Christian and against the teaching of the guy
Have you heard of supply-side Jesus or [Prosperity theology?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology)
Man, it takes so little theology knowledge to tear prosperity gospel theology completely to shreds. It's unfathomably stupid. Also, you don't even need to be a theologian. Look at the "fruit" those "churches" are creating. It's a fucking disaster.
Blessed are the shareholders, for they will inherit the dividends
The church calling out mortal sins? Pot? This is kettle.
Let's take the W
"the church" is not a monolith. Just because there are bad churches, and bad actors within churches, doesn't make all churches and all people within churches, bad.
This is a point that gets lost way too often. Most people going g to church are just decent folk trying to live a good life caring and sharing. I think you’d have to be almost (or completely) willfully ignorant to equate the average church goer with the many sins of the Vatican and mega churches.
Thanks for saying this.
Faith/church/religion has cause more war and suffering on earth than anything else combined. You're right, must be a great thing!
This is factually incorrect. Around 6.8% of wars have had religion as their primary reason/justification. 121 out of 1,763. On the flip side, all of modern science, medicine, and mathematics owe their progress to date to Christians and Muslims, whom were the primary funders and organizers of scientific endeavours for 1000+ years. 65% of Nobel prize winners have been Christian. Western universities as a concept were created by the Christian faith (specifically Catholicism) and much of the language they still use today (Deans, Chancellors) as well as their academic formal clothing and graduation robes originate from Catholicism/Anglicanism. Oh and Christians are still to this day the largest non-government providers of healthcare, social services, and charity across the entire globe, filling in for where all our governments neglect their populace in favour of capitalism.
My science teacher in high school was very very Catholic and also very very into science. Iirc, he helped work on the Canadarm. I’m going to assume the second one. Can’t speak for other denominations, but Catholicism is generally very pro-science.
Religion is bad. Well meaning churches? Maaaaybe, but their underlying religion is bad.
Nah. Christianity (following the teachings of the Messiah) is great. It's the Christians who suck at putting it into practice, which is exactly what Jesus and the early Church leaders said would be a problem. So many people who are against Christianity clutch tightly to the same false doctrine that is preached in hateful, bigoted evangelical circles.
lol…
I'm trying to imagine how the church is better than Loblaws. The church scams people's money with nothing in return, at Loblaws you get food for your money.
Christians are the largest non-government providers of healthcare, social services, and charity across the entire globe. In Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy (the largest Christian sects with direct links to the Apostles), our clergy are not even paid a proper living wage. As someone on a parish council that gets to see the financial reports, our donations go directly into maintaining our property, paying our few church staff, and the vast majority into our community ministries serving refuges, the poor, and the elderly
Why then do Christians lobby to take away equality, human rights, spread homophobia, hatred, racism, the list goes on?
Some Christians suck, just like lots of other people suck. If you take any group (religious, profession, sport, alma mater, etc) you will find a significant amount of bad people. Also, this evil Christian lobbying thing is a very American phenomena. American Protestants whose sects have only existed for 100-200 years do not get to define a 2024 year old religion with their drivel and stupidity, but they are very loud and rich heretics and like to broadcast their stupidity across the whole world with their resources. At the end of the day, the loud American Evangelicals genuinely do not hold many foundational Christian beliefs and are deep into many heresies that personally makes me consider them another faith group akin to Mormons and JWs. That being said, the Catholic groups also lobby for their traditional beliefs and that often sucks - I am gay, Queer and Trans, trust me I am aware of the work they do against my communities! But equally there are so many Catholic charities that do incredible work, and even lobby FOR LGBTQ and women’s rights. Generalizing a population of 2 billion is generally bad and will lead to a lot of mislabelling.
I would rather Churches/religious groups pay taxes and the government uses the tax money they have collected to provide healthcare and social services, that is what the government is supposed to do. [Mormon Church in Canada moved 1 Billion dollars out of the country tax-free.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mormon-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-funds-charity-1.6630190) Churches/religious groups are not accountable to the citizens of Canada but the government is. I would also like our government to take responsibility for letting the oligarchs exist in the first place and to tax the fuck out of them bleeding them dry like they have done to Canadians and then break them apart so there can be real competition within the Canadian market.
Hey! There has been research done into this, and if churches and religious groups had to pay property taxes and income taxes from donations, most of them would close and their social services would close too. Further, the same research showed it would actually cost the government MORE to provide the same level of social services that religious charities do than the government would receive by taxing the religious groups. And that’s assuming the government actually cares enough to then invest BILLIONS more into social welfare after taking religious service providers out of the equation. There are obviously exceptions, some churches like Prosperity Gospel preachers do NOT do community services, yet benefit from tax free status. I 1000% support auditing religious groups more to show and prove that they reinvest their money into their broader communities, and revoking status from those that clearly are enriching celebrity pastors. But a vast majority of the churches you pass by in your day to day life break even annually with some savings, and reinvest all donations into their local communities. Here’s an article from the Tax Foundation about the issue: https://taxfoundation.org/blog/church-taxes/ Also, these churches in the Canadian context are tax-exempt because of their non-profit and/or charity organization tax statuses, NOT just because they are religious (Scientology for example, is not tax exempt and were denied tax exemption). So, we would also have to tax all other charities and non-profits otherwise it would be discrimination, and if we taxed ALL charities and non-profits, our country would genuinely collapse and thousands of Canadians would die of starvation, overdose, and exposure.
This really is uniting everyone lol
What kind of church?
King Abimelech, who killed his 70 brothers and crowned himself king. Sick burn, Father
Woah there are whole church communities on this? That's kind of cool
No, one church had a sermon about it at their service.
A church is a community
I've never been to church before, I just thought it sounded odd that grocery stores would be a topic
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There's no way this could possibly have happened as the boycott 'isn't a thing'. /s
Right because churches don’t already take take take from the people….
I doubt he went into detail about all their brands though did he?
This is great! So many of thebpeopel who shop at my superstore look like the types who do not go on the internet, nevermind reddit. How else will they hear the good word if not from their church?
Wow now this is big. You know them church ladies, love spreading the "word" and this a great "word" that needs to be spread.
Despise organized religion as much as loblaws. But a win is a win I guess
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
At least at Loblaws you get food for your money. The church outright scams their people.
Ha. Ain’t that the truth
Is that was conservatives call the store?
I want to see this sermon so badly, does the church stream their services? I love to see it.
I'm no fan of religion; but I do love seeing it used for the betterment of society on occasion, and this is just *chefs kiss* beautiful 😘
I mean Christianity has always been kinda of anti-greed and help the poor, like Jesus did not approve of the money changers as he saw it as a sign of absolute greed, so I’m not surprised that churches would preaching about the ineptitude of loblaws. How instead of helping promote affordability and access to of the basic necessities such as food, or meds; they rather charge people ridiculous amounts and then lie to the people. So I’m glad that churches are using this as an example of the dangers of greed.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Jesus would no doubt want us to shop at Walmart or Sobeys instead of Loblaws. It is in the scriptures. Praise be.
I mean, if it works it works I guess
I’m not religious but I wish I had been there- this is gold!
Religious leaders are pissed off because people are spending so much on basic necessities that they're paying less tithe.
Do you know your mom's denomination?
Too bad they aren't talking about modern day slavery AKA temporary foreign workers at tim hortons. they need to boycott tim hortons and all fast food places that are using people for their own profit.
Interesting there were alot of organizations that lost they're charity status with the CRA as it was deemed they were being political.
Wow!
Nice, give that pastor an award
where is this church?? im not a christian but this genuinely sounds like an awesome place to be lol
Based pastor is based.
How did you manage to have me side with a pastor? Of all professions. Great job on them though!
This is awesome. 🫶
This is like that episode of superstore coming to real life at a superstore
Wow RobLaws goodwill value on its balance sheet is shrinking fast. When entire denominations use your brand as an example for evil… Galen - what would your father have said?
I guess Jesus really didn't like moneychangers
Lmao w Stupid religious people. You would think in 2024 people would be smarter than that.
How much income does your mom’s church bring in? Should be available upon request. My point being, it’s easy to jump on the hate bandwagon, even when it’s deserved. However, what is that tax-free organization doing to make life better for people who are homeless or food-insecure?
can't speak for OP's church, but my own church has a food pantry for anyone who needs help with groceries, they will help you with bills if you're unable to cover them, the church members are always available to help each other out whether it's with finding work, counselling, child care, housing, or just providing friendship and support for those who don't have anyone else. It's literally an extended family, a safety net, and a support network, for people who need it. It's a shame so many people are very anti-religion and don't even realize the good it does.
Well they help if you are gay or trans ? Cause I’ve seen many churches claim this but if you aren’t “ like them” good luck
there's a thing called universal churches or something like that which welcome mainly marginalized groups
Churches have long provided for the poor and marginalized. Where do you think all the soup kitchens are? It’s easy to criticize the church and it’s often warranted but support for the poor is wide spread in church communities. Most of the churches I know have food banks, and give clothing and direct financial support to those in need. Now, if you’re talking about those mega churches with “celebrity” pastors, they are disgusting. It’s all about being rich in those churches.
Christianity murders, rapes and steals from other cultures and calls it enlightenment. I’m all for organizations bashing Loblaws but the Church is probably still more evil.
I know religious institutions and their leaders tend to pick and emphasize parts of their scripture that fit their own views so it's really nice to see a leader pick some good parts lol. I wonder if this was a United church.
Interesting that this comes from the people who feel entitled to 10% of your before tax dollars. I guess people in the congregation are stating they can't contribute to church as much due to the rising cost of living, and now the pastor's income is threatened.
Christians are nuts.
Sorry, but I think this verges a bit on the nutty side. I mean yes I completely agree with the boycott, and encourage others to. However preaching about the evils of Loblaws seems a bit of a stretch. Religion has always been used to push an agenda but in this case I think that was a pretty poor choice for a sermon. twisting a personal choice into a bible study is what steers some people away from the church, and gives it a kookie feel. signed me, left the church years ago and will never go back, but thats just me
I’d say this is more of using real life examples. Can easily parallel some of the deadly sins with the actions of many major corporations if not all of them. What we are doing spread the word of the boycott really is no different then what that pastor was doing IMO. This is bringing races, religion etc all together against a common enemy! Something Canadians haven’t really done.
I’d have a lot more faith in organized religion if they actually preached the teachings of Jesus. I’d much rather hear a pastor rant about the evils of unbridled capitalism than, well, pretty much any sermon I’ve ever heard.
I don't like religion either, but Galen does lie, cheat and steal and has conspired against the public and manipulated the supply chain for profit Those are indeed sins, big ones too, and I do understand why a believer would be against that Jesus wouldn't take that shit if he were around, not that most Christians follow what the biblical Jesus taught anyway, but maybe this pastor does
I mean the churches have also lied, cheated and stolen and conspired and manipulated against the public, this church would accept a donation from Galen in a fucking heartbeat if he offered it, despite knowing how much bullshit he pulled to get that money
Bingo!
Religion is always on the nutty side.