5 Lessons From the Attack on Chick-fil-A
Examples of mainstream America’s hatred of God and the Bible abound, but this has to be one of the worst to date.
A ridiculous brouhaha has developed over an innocuous article in the Baptist Press two weeks ago. It was a feature on the president of fast food chain Chick-fil-A, and how he lets his faith guide his business decisions, like closing his stores on Sundays. The article mentioned opposition the company has faced for its support of traditional family. “Well, guilty as charged,” Dan Cathy responded. “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. … We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. … We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”
For those statements, Mr. Cathy was absolutely pilloried.
The mayor of Boston threatened to deny Chick-fil-A licenses to operate in his city. Muppets creator Jim Henson Co., which was making toys for kids’ meals, severed ties with the restaurant. A Chicago alderman announced he would block the company from opening a new store in his ward. Chicago’s mayor agreed, saying, “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values.” San Francisco’s mayor warned the company not to open a restaurant there. A Philadelphia councilman sent a letter to Dan Cathy telling his company to “take a hike and take your intolerance with you.” A New York councilman threatened to withhold a business permit until Chick-fil-A broke ties with groups that oppose same-sex marriage. Celebrities issued public condemnations, many of them loaded with obscenities. Protesters stood outside stores urging customers to boycott. News organizations characterized Cathy’s pro-family comments as “anti-gay.” A YouGov poll showed that public perception of his company has taken a massive hit in the last two weeks.
Here are five lessons to take from this appalling, embarrassing story.
1) Behold the liberal definition of “tolerance.”
Chick-fil-A has never been accused of discriminating against homosexuals in its hiring, its service or other business practices. These folks want to shut it down for its president’s personal beliefs.
To these people, you’re only “open minded” if you agree with them. And “tolerance” demands extreme intolerance of alternative views. Welcome to America 2012.
2) This shows the spectacular arrogance of the liberal left.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s rant continued, “If you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.” Since when does a city’s mayor decide what “values” must be held by the people who live there?
The fact is, they don’t, they can’t—and they know it. Legally, city officials cannot impose a religious test on people who want to open a business. But these officials don’t care. They want to intimidate and bully people. And they score plenty of political points from their liberal supporters when they do.
3) We are looking at hypocrisy on an epic scale.
Are the Chick-fil-A bashers really so opposed to those who don’t support same-sex “marriage”? Then why single out one business? Surely there are other business owners who harbor a similar belief; after all, it’s not that unusual. The numbers are falling, but a recent Pew poll said 44 percent of Americans still oppose same-sex “marriage.” That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 137 million people in this country. Are none of them welcome in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York? Or is it just that they’re not welcome to start businesses there?
Where is the condemnation of businesses owned by Muslims whose religion informs their opposition to homosexuality?
Mayor Emanuel, in fact, is partnering with Louis Farrakhan to reduce homicides in Chicago. The Nation of Islam leader, besides being famously anti-Semitic, also opposes same-sex unions; just two months ago, Farrakhan blasted President Obama for endorsing homosexual “marriage”—with explicit anti-homosexual language miles beyond Cathy’s general pro-family remark. When will the mayor ostracize Farrakhan for not holding “Chicago values”?
For that matter, when did he ever say a word of criticism against President Obama, who opposed homosexual marriage while Emanuel served as his chief of staff for nearly two years?
4) Politically correct “diversity” includes practically all groups but one.
The fact is, there is really only one group targeted by these nasty, sanctimonious attacks. The politically correct version of “diversity” happily includes people of all races and religions—even those that practice forced marriage, polygamy, sending their children on suicide bombing missions, what have you—except one. This group must be shunned. The message to them: “Take a hike, and take your intolerance with you.”
Who are they? Bible believers.
Nobody inspires vitriol, spite and bigotry like someone who actually lets Scripture govern his beliefs. There’s a reason for that—and it’s in the Bible.
5) We are witnessing head-spinning, lightning-fast social change.
Marriage is the single most enduring institution in human civilization. It makes sense. There is simply no better way to ensure that children grow up in a stable environment than for them to be raised by the two individuals who biologically produced them, within an exclusive, lifelong relationship. Mankind—and not just Bible-believers—has been defining marriage as being between a man and a woman for thousands of years.
Quite suddenly, in the United States, it is a minority position. This past May, the nation’s president recognized that support for same-sex “marriage” had become politically acceptable enough to publicly embrace. Just weeks later, major politicians saw a businessman who puts “biblical definition” in front of family and targeted him for public flogging. Now the Democratic Party is considering support for same-sex “marriage” as part of its official party platform.
It is absolutely extraordinary how rapid this revolutionary change has been.
“We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.” It was just a couple weeks ago that an unsuspecting, family-loving businessman uttered those words. Who knew just how out of step he was?
