Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Chick-fil-Aid

Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy created a firestorm recently by simply confirming his support for traditional marriage. Cathy is known for espousing Christian values even to the point of closing his fast-food restaurants on Sundays. How can anyone not respect a man who sacrifices substantial profit in the practice of his Christian faith? Yet, we live in strange times these days. Believing that marriage should be between a man and a woman now implies bigotry to secular society, and therefore, even his right to free speech should suffer repercussions.

The Jim Henson Company (yes, the Henson Company of Muppet fame) said they would no longer partner with Chick-fil-A because the Henson Company embraces “diversity” and “inclusiveness”. Why is it that those who embrace diversity and inclusiveness often refuse to include anyone whose belief is diverse from theirs? I wonder if Dan Cathy, learning of the Henson Company’s support for same-sex marriage, would have initiated the separation. I don’t know, but I doubt it. If not, who is really the more tolerant?

The mayor of Boston and an alderman in Chicago are both trying to prevent Chick-fil-A from opening restaurants in their territory. The mayor of Chicago announced that Chick-fil-A’s values are not consistent with Chicago values. Keep in mind that all Dan Cathy said was that he supports the biblical definition of marriage. Seems like their outrage should be directed at God rather than Dan Cathy.

Having a dialogue with same-sex marriage proponents is a challenge. The biblical basis for traditional marriage has no relevance to them. They have no concept of the difference between a covenant and a contract. They do not seem to see any relationship between the deterioration of the traditional family and culture of violence that plagues so many young people especially in the inner cities. The chasm between God and the Godless in our society seems to be widening daily.

If the owners and officers of every company and business in Chicago were polled on their position on marriage, one could hope to find many that support traditional marriage between a man and woman. Would the alderman like to eliminate all of them from his ward? How long before he tries to remove all Catholic churches? Why is it okay to trample on one’s freedom of speech and practice of religion?

I saw an amusing cartoon on the Internet today. It demonstrated why Dan Cathy supports traditional marriage in the following manner:
Rooster + Rooster = Goose egg (0)
Hen + Hen = Goose egg (0)
Rooster + Hen = Chick-fil-A

Dan Cathy could have easily avoided this controversy by keeping silent on his religious beliefs. It takes courage to jeopardize your own business by speaking out in support of values that have become frighteningly unpopular. I hope that many other God-fearing business owners will come forward in support of Cathy and traditional marriage. If they cannot muster up the courage to do so, perhaps they can at least take the family out to dinner at Chick-fil-A.

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