the miniscule and almost undetectable religousness of the cup hardly compares w/ Hamilton Joint Compound sold at home depot. the first thing staring you in the face is a 4" long christian 'fish' symbol . and then if god still isn't in your heart, on the bottom of the box actual bible verse is printed in large type.

I think many non-christians might be giving In-n-Out a little slack, considering they pay their employees an almost-living wage when they definitely don't have to.

What a load of bullshit. The most identifying feature of In-N-Out is the food. This article hit it right on the money: if the chain expands too quickly, its quality might falter, which means the food would suck, which means peril and catastrophe for all who enjoy the lovliness that is a Double-Double. That the Bible verses are tucked away in the packaging is a bonus feature, like knowing about Animal Style. Nice try.

You're waaaay off base with the idea that the religious notes on its products would be a problem. What, exactly, is different about a national presence versus 200+ EXISTING stores in AZ, CA and NV? Ummm, if anyone had a problem, it would have come up a long time ago.

If you're going to get on your high-horse, you should fact-check before mounting.
1. Restaurants aren't public places.
2. There is no religious message on the fry trays.

The most identifying feature of the restaurant isn't the small-type of a bible verse number. Many customers would be surprised to even know the script was there.

The most identifying part of In-n-Out is the people who eat there and think about tricking their "liberal" friends into converting to Christianity by pounding a double-double. "Ha, ha, you had Animal Style! That means you're baptized! Take that, liberal! PHPTHPTPTPTPHHHH!!!!!!"

You all seem to think that evangelism is beating someone over the head with a Bible.

I cannot think of one person who talks about In-n-Out and doesn't mention the Bible verses on the paper products.

I guess you all are blue staters and any discussion of religion freaks you out.

Aaron-

This was an article about the business of a fast food chain in the Business section of a newspaper. Mentioning the Bible citations would have been superfluous. Keep on grinding that axe while we enjoy our Double-Doubles.

The story was about the store's future mission--should they expand or not.

All this post is about is me reading an article describing the uniqueness of In-and-Out without mentioning one of the most unique things about it.

I thought, wow, all this praise about how special in and out is and no mention of the evangelism component.

Alaska Airlines does the same thing. They have little prayers on the trays the place on the tray table in front of you. Not a big deal to me, but I do not like the practice of mixing religion and business.

One thinks that your own obsession wirh religion, whatever that is, drives your complaint about the Times' reporting than any legitimate complaint. For one thing, as Snopes.com has noted, this so-called prostelytizing is so low-key as to be almost non-existent. Yours truly didn't even notice it until someone who had too much time on his hands pointed it out one day. Even then, it just seemed to me more a curiosity in the manner of the stars inside the Proctor & Gamble logo.

Good news reporting doesn't deal with all the curiosities, just those that matter to the heart of the story. When the story involves a battle for control of a company and how it may impact food and service quality, then it should focus on those matters at hand. Period. Referring to the fact that there are obscure and not even well-spelled-out references to biblical passages doesn't factor in.

One would assume that since this is a family business--that their faith (which encouraged them to evangelize) would be important to that decision.

The arguments here are totally subjective. Everyone commenting are people who love In-and-Out but don't give a shit about what they print anywhere. That's fine.

It's the same stupidity for people who spend American cash all the time and scoff at the "In God We Trust" on the money.

I really could care less if you feel anything about the verses on the IN and OUT wrappers.

They are there for a purpose; if you want to be a lame SoCal liberal, stoner or bumb and not care--that's totally cool, but don't bitch if someone notices something more about the burger.

That's a tad arrogant of you, Aaron, to argue that somehow the fact that intelligent people realize that what the Times didn't mention was a detail tangential to the angle of a business story means that they are either "lame SoCal" liberals, or "stoners" or "bum" (by the way, not "bumb" Aaron; pick up a dictionary).

Instead of insulting those with whom you disagree, you would be better off making a far better case for your point. If you can.