Does Starbucks really need to be the center of this year’s war on Christmas?

With Halloween gone and Thanksgiving on its way, the first salvo in what some claim to be America's annual war on Christmas is coming from an unexpected direction.

The Pacific Northwest, actually, where Starbucks is making some Christmas lovers wonder not only WWJD (what would Jesus drink?) but, more importantly, from what sort of cup would he drink it?

The flashpoint: The coffee retailer's replacement of its usual holiday-themed cups with this year's model, which is totally bereft of snowflakes and other Christmastime iconography and represents the season via nothing more than the company's green logo set against a deep red field. (See a review of the past several years' worth of Starbucks cups here.

Already, some Christians are calling the stark, unicolored cups an example of political correctness run amok and part of what they consider to be a continuing war on Christmas (which, like Christmas shopping season, seems to be arriving earlier and earlier each year).

Starbucks describes this year's cup as bearing "a two-toned ombré design, with a bright poppy color on top that shades into a darker cranberry below," with the ombré — a slow blending of one color into another color — creating "a distinctive dimension, fluidity and weightedness."

The company says it has offered its drinks in holiday-themed cups since 1997 and that each year's edition tells "a story of the holidays by featuring symbols of the season from vintage ornaments and hand-drawn reindeer to modern vector-illustrated characters."

And, in a press release that seems to be aimed at this year's cup blank-cup controversy, Starbucks notes that "creating a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity is one of the core values of Starbucks, and each year during the holidays the company aims to bring customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season. Starbucks will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world."

The Rev. J. Barry Vaughn, rector of Christ Church Episcopal in Las Vegas, says he heard of this tempest in a Starbucks cup only "in passing" but doesn't think removal of snowflakes and other holiday figures from the cup means much of anything.

"I don't think there's a war on Christmas," Vaughn says, adding that "we have to recognize that we are a religiously pluralistic country now. Christians are still the largest religious group, but not as large as we used to be, and there are other groups that are numerous, and they have as much right to celebrate their holidays as we do to celebrate ours."

"Second, and I think more significant, is that there's nothing Christmasy, much less Christian, about snowflakes and Christmas trees. Those are purely cultural. That's what makes those things Christmasy. There's nothing in the Bible about them, and the Nativity narratives say nothing about them."

The Rev. Robert Stoeckig, pastor of St. Andrew Catholic Community in Boulder City, notes that there are "lots of things I dislike about the way our society markets Christmas."

But, he continues, "I also dislike the outrage that gets manufactured every year about one thing or another. The design of a coffee cup at a franchise I rarely visit isn't an affront to me as much as many other things.

Among those things: "Hungry people in this land of plenty, mentally ill and addicted people sitting in our jails instead of getting treatment, (and) our school system that has hundreds of long-term substitutes in at-risk schools that need good permanent teachers."

Those "are the things worthy of outrage. I'm afraid the other stuff just distracts us from what's truly important about Christmas. God takes human flesh to show us how to live and how to love. That's what Christmas is about. How are we living this? That's the agenda we should focus on."

And to those who might be tempted to pass on their daily caffeine fix rather than to guzzle it out of what they believe to be an objectionable cup?

"I'd say relax," Vaughn says. "Christmas is a Christian holiday. No one's going to prevent us from going to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. And I think we ought to really recover the Christian understanding of Christmas. It doesn't have to do with buying a lot of gifts. It's about celebrating the coming of God into the world."

Having said that, Vaughn adds, "I admit I kind of miss a holiday-themed Starbucks cup. They're kind of nice, but it's not necessarily Christmas. It's just nice because it's that time of year and it kind of puts you into the mood of all the festivities."

Besides, Vaughn adds, "100 bucks (says) they're going to bring it back next year."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280 or follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.