Proverbs in packaging and snippets of spirituality are cropping up in unexpected places these days, from fast-food burgers to in-flight prayer cards.

Commerce is blurring the lines between religion and marketing in new ways, experts say, as God-to-go appeals to Americans' hunger for meaning, spirituality and values.

In Roanoke and nationwide, a growing number of businesses, primarily Christian-owned, are wrapping their products in religion. Some of the references arise from a founder's spiritual beliefs while others are part of a marketing quest for the Holy Grail of corporate branding.

Ukrop's, the Richmond family-owned grocery chain coming to Roanoke in November, is closed on Sundays and doesn't sell alcohol. Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A also is closed on Sundays, in part so employees can worship. Tyson Foods has mealtime prayers that can be downloaded from its Web site. The In-N-Out Burger, a fast-food chain on the West Coast, prints biblical passages on some burger wrappers and cups. And refreshments at Alaska Airlines are offered with a pocket-size psalm.

Douglas Hicks, a Presbyterian minister and religion professor at the University of Richmond, said religion is added to products for a variety of reasons.

"There are lot of motivations and some are more virtuous than others," Hicks said. "Wise corporate leaders want to be respectful and want to think this through before they set this up."

George Anderson, pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, said he tells his congregation that faith is best seen in business ethics, not in what's printed on merchandise.

"Having religious beliefs imposed on me by a business would be something I would find objectionable, but so also would having quotes from religious figures banned from merchandise," Anderson said. "Religion being used simply to make money would be something that would turn me off, but regulating that would be making a judgment on another's motives. There is no clean separation of religion and marketing."

Sometimes, stirring up controversy creates a buzz equal to a java jolt.

This spring, Starbucks will quote its first religious leader, the Rev. Rick Warren, who authored "The Purpose Driven Life," on its 20-ounce coffee cups sold in its nine locations in Southwest Virginia and elsewhere in the United States and Canada.

On the cusp of its second year, the marketing campaign called "The Way I See It" has printed quotes from more than 60 artists, poets, musicians, sportscasters and others. An editorial panel of about 20 people -- Starbucks and outside business professionals -- periodically chose quotes submitted from recognized names and, starting this year, from consumers.

Starbucks spokeswoman Sanja Gould said Warren's quote, likely to appear after April, is the first from a Christian leader to appear on its cups, but she didn't rule out future statements from imams, rabbis or other religious leaders.

"The program is an extension of the coffeehouse culture and a way to promote open, respectful conversation among a wide variety of individuals," she said from the company's Seattle headquarters. "We look for a variety of authors that represent many different thoughts and ideas. We are not targeting a particular genre such as religion."

The quotes, which are different on the four cup sizes, change about once a month. Each carries a caveat that the words are the author's opinions and not necessarily shared by Starbucks.

At the Starbucks near Valley View Mall in Roanoke, reaction was mixed. Several customers said the program was thought-provoking, while others didn't like cups containing words that they considered advocacy and political correctness.

Chris Kane, a Roanoke College student, said, "I think they are pretty cool. Coffee shops have the motif for being literary and political, and that's what most of the quotes seem to be."

Another customer, Eric Mercer, said the program reminded him of the messages on Celestial Seasonings' herbal tea packets. Mercer said Starbucks was daring to print Warren's quotation.

"If Starbucks wants to put that on their cups, they're risk-takers," he said. "If someone is offended by it, they'll have to deal with it."

Imam Ibrahim Hamidullah, leader of the Clarence Sabree Islamic Center in Roanoke, said he welcomed the concept.

"I think that's great. I'm thinking one day they can put our leader on there," he said, referring to the orthodox teachings of W. Deen Mohammad. "You have to look at the positive thinking and good message."

Grocery chain president Bobby Ukrop said the grocery chain is low-key about closing on Sundays. He said he believes it helps promote families.

"I'm usually at First Baptist teaching my Sunday school class. However people want to worship or spend their time is up to them. What we are trying to provide, through closing our stores, is a Sabbath," he said. "It's not all about Christianity; we have Jewish, Muslim and Seventh-dayAdventists who work at our stores and we try to accommodate them. We're inclusive."

He said none of the stores has sold alcohol since the grocery chain was founded in 1937 by his parents. "We're not really preaching to people or telling them what to do. We try to model by example."

Mark Baldwin, a spokesman at Chick-fil-A, said company founder Truett Cathy is a devout Baptist. Cathy has said he's not so committed to financial success that he was willing to abandon his religious principles.

"Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business," Cathy stated on his Web site.

Baldwin said being closed on Sundays gives employees a fresh start on Mondays and has helped the company with recruitment and retention.

"We're proud of it," Baldwin said. "A lot of people confuse us and think we are a Christian-based operation. We're based on biblical principals. We have people from all types of religions working for us."

Bob Childress, who owns the Chick-fil-A near Valley View Mall, said several managers urged him to install a prayer box as one more way of connecting with customers' lives. Manager Gary Burch said the prayer requests range from hand-scrawled notes from children who are upset by divorce to prayers for children with inoperable cancer.

Burch, an ordained minister who does revivals and retreats, said he's heartened by the company's mind-set and standards.

"I consider Chick-fil-A a church, quite honestly," Burch said. "And chicken is the medium."

Alaska Airlines' spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said the airline connects with people and distinguishes its service by offering small cards printed with psalms along with their refreshments.

"It became a way for passengers to differentiate Alaska Airlines from other airlines out there," Tobin said. "They've been acknowledged as part of our heritage for more than 30 years."

Some wonder if religion isn't merely a tool for making a profit. For some companies, religious marketing helps make connections with clients.

"For many people religion is a critically important part of their identity," said Andrew Wicks, a business professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.

"Religion is part of life. Companies want to create passions, commitment and synergy with key stakeholders. More and more, you want people to buy your brand."

But Wicks said there are perils of mixing religion and business, especially given the diversity in Americans' religious beliefs.

"If you affiliate yourself too closely with any one religion or take a strong position on religions, you risk potentially alienating your brand from those consumers," he said.

There has been some backlash to the mixing of religion and business.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, a spokeswoman at the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., said some of the group's 6,000 members complained after receiving Alaska Airlines' prayer cards. Gaylor said there is the potential of insulting or offending people who aren't Christians.

"There should be a line between being enthusiastic and proselytizing a captive audience of consumers," Gaylor said.

Starbucks' program has attracted its share of critics too. The company once ran a quote from Armistead Maupin, whose "Tales of the City" described San Francisco's homosexual society in the 1970s and '80s. His quote was: "My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life is too damn short."

Gould, the Starbucks spokeswoman, said Warren's upcoming quote wasn't meant to blunt criticism of Maupin's quote.

"Warren submitted a quote and it was selected due to its content and not because of reaction to Maupin's quote," Gould said.

Robert Knight, director of the Culture & Family Institute in Washington, D.C., said Maupin's quote "went way over the top" because it encouraged young people, who might be sexually confused, to experiment with homosexuality.

"Only three of the cups in the series featured conservatives and none challenged the worldview that homosexuality is a good thing," Knight said, adding that Warren's quote was overdue. "It took them more than 60 cups to figure out that a Christian voice might be a good addition, but it is better late than never."

Knight said Starbucks couldn't be faulted for trying to make their coffee shops more interesting: "We don't object to the idea of having provocative quotes. What we don't like is that nearly all of them are left-wing boiler plates, so, they are not really giving us diversity."

He said it's about time someone like the Rev. Rick Warren was quoted.

"I hope they take a hard look at the campaign and broaden it to include more diverse views," he said. "Having 60 different leftists give their opinion doesn't constitute viewpoint diversity."

But Gaylor, of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, had a different perspective on entering the "stormy waters" of religion and marketing.

"They better offer some free thought on their next mug, instead of just promoting God," she said. "Atheists drink coffee, too."