Posted on 11/26/2019 7:24:57 AM PST by Kaslin
Chick-fil-A has long been an oasis for families seeking escape from an ever-colder, cynical world.
It’s not just the delicious chicken sandwiches. It’s the background Christian music, the incredibly friendly staff and, yes, knowing you can support a company that’s held firm in the face of relentless pressure from the left. Or so we thought.
The bullying began in 2011, when an LGBTQ group called for a boycott of the chicken chain because it had sponsored a marriage seminar conducted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, an affiliate of Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.
In 2012, company President Dan Cathy stated in an interview that he believed marriage was created by God as the union of one man and one woman. “Guilty as charged,” he said half-jokingly.
LGBTQ groups went ballistic. They held a nationwide boycott, which fizzled in the face of a far larger “buycott” that created block-long lines on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. Then-Fox News anchor Shepard Smith showed his own pro-gay stripes at the time by gratuitously slamming it as the “National Day of Intolerance.”
Despite massive support, Chick-fil-A caved, quietly defunding any group that the LGBTQ bullies deemed as cultural opponents, such as Family Research Council. But Chick-fil-A kept funding Christian charities like the Salvation Army, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and the Paul Anderson Youth Home in Georgia, which was founded with aid from Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy.
In 2018, the Chick-fil-A Foundation donated $115,000 to the Salvation Army and $1.65 million to the FCA, according to an IRS tax form reported at Bisnow.com. However, Daniel Greenfield at Frontpagemag.com reported that Rodney D. Bullard, the Foundation’s executive director, had donated to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and that the Chick-Fil-A Foundation has sent $2 million to left-wing groups. Surprise.
When Chick-fil-A recently announced that some of its charitable agreements were expiring and that they were restructuring their giving, all hell broke loose. Chick-fil-A Foundation would henceforth give more to local charities that assist with “education, homelessness and hunger,” the company said. They cited Junior Achievement (JA) and Covenant House, with no mention of the Salvation Army, FCA or the Anderson Home.
JA teaches kids the principles of business success and lacks no corporate support. Covenant House offers shelter and programs for homeless, runaway and trafficked youth.
OK, but the Salvation Army has been doing this effectively for decades. Here’s the difference. Covenant House has earned the stamp of approval from True Colors United, a pro-gay group that celebrates Pride Month and other pro-LGBTQ events and demands “affirmation,” not just tolerance. And there’s much more. Covenant House actually sponsored a float in New York City’s Pride parade and is fully onboard the LGBTQ juggernaut.
The Salvation Army, which discriminates against none and welcomes homeless “LGBTQ youth,” maintains its biblical, denominational belief in marriage as God created it.
Ironically, the Salvation Army has bent over backwards to accommodate LGBTQ activists, even extending marital benefits to same-sex couples. But they’ve not genuflected fully to the gay Baals, so they must be punished as a “hate group.”
In any event, appeasement never works. LGBTQ pressure groups have already made more demands. They want Chick-fil-A to recite Mao-like recantations of their beliefs and denounce Focus on the Family and other Christian groups that once enjoyed Chick-fil-A funding. They are following the script of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has wrongly and recklessly listed as “hate groups” many Christian organizations that promote biblical morality.
Make no mistake. This is not about these charities or even Chick-fil-A. It’s about intimidating everyone who won’t surrender to the LGBTQ mob’s increasingly aggressive bullying.
Several liberal mayors have moved to bar Chick-fil-A from opening in their cities. Numerous campuses, spouting “inclusion,” have banned Chick-fil-A. The company recently had to close down a new store in Reading, England, in the face of the LGBTQ mobs there. This is the criminalization of Christianity before our very eyes.
Despite company denials, this is seen widely as a surrender to the LGBTQ rage mob. An American Family Association petition to Chick-fil-A quickly drew nearly 100,000 signatures. The text says in part: “it looks like you are abandoning Christian values and agreeing with homosexual activists who say believing the Bible makes you a hater. Please clarify that you still hold to biblical teachings regarding human sexuality, marriage, and family, and reinstate these Christian ministries.”
The apparently unjustified perception that they were sticking to their values certainly did not hurt the chain. Chick-fil-A has doubled its revenue and is now the third-largest fast-food chain in America. With annual sales exceeding $11 billion, the company is proof that you can prosper in the face of mob pressure. Until you don’t.
Franklin Graham, perhaps the most prominent evangelical leader in America, and no “evangellyfish,” said he talked with Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy personally and was assured that the company was not giving in to the LGBTQ mob. Mr. Cathy owes Mr. Graham an apology.
Those of us who have loved Chick-fil-A over the years sincerely hope that they heed the outcry and reverse course – quickly.
If you cut deals with the Left, don’t be surprised when they come back within minutes, munching a chicken sandwich and saying, “What have you done for me lately?”
You can call the company's new direction a "slight change" but I don't believe it is. I hope I'm proven wrong. I hope Chick-Fil-A experiences a significant drop in revenues and that other businesses take notice.
But being family friendly DOES mean not turning your back on family friendly charities in order to support sexual perverts and abortionists. Which is exactly what CFA has done.
They have spit in our faces and now still expect us to buy their food. Not going to happen.
Romans 1:18-32 comes to mind. Good bye chick fil a. There is lots of other food to be had. You made a bad decision.
Christians do not support perversion as chick-fil-a has chosen to do.
Not only have they abandoned their conservative credentials but they cast serious doubt on their Christianity as a company. The charities they are now supporting are all pro-perversion pro-abortion leftists groups. How can someone claim to be a follower of Christ and yet support what Christ hates?
Feeding the crocodile in hopes that he will eat them last.
You have abandoned conservative Christians as others have been always want to do .
Baby? Hell, we can’t tolerate the bath water. The baby has to go
If I had a young daughter I would be especially leary
If someone (CFA) stands up and publicly supports abortion and perverts (as CFA has done) they ARE NOT CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS.
I cannot abandon conservative Christians if they are NOT conservative or Christian.
If they repent they will of course be welcomed back, but as of their decision to support perversion and abortion they have turned their back on Christ and on America.
I don’t see any screaming going on in this thread.
See Buckeye McFrog’s post #21
Maybe you’re OK with pretend friends, I’ll do truck with any random stranger over a known betrayer.
YMMV.
OK, I’ll quit CfA, too!
(Btw, why are you a here, anyway?)
Well newbie, Not only have I been here a very long time but I am a conservative that eschews action by those who do the conservative movement more harm than good
Quote of the day!
Oh, really. Do you prefer we bow or curtsy? Kiss your pinky or kiss your ass? Please do tell. LOL! Do you do stand-up comedy on weekends, too? LOL!
Exactly. Bert doesn’t understand that CFA has quit supporting Christian orgs that helped their standing with Southern Christians, who in turn supported their business.
Instead, CFA has chosen to support all Democrat causes: all the hunger fighting, child helping, education boosting help possible, with no God involved (or at least the God who teaches us to stay the path of morality for best results).
Sorry, but it is not a purist dilemma to support CFA or not.
They abandoned their values for market share expansion. Ie., they abandoned their supporters in the hopes of finding bigger market share.
It isn’t a purist response for Christians to abandon CFa at this point. CFA is now just like any other fast food restaurant. They support all the “right” (read: left) Democrat causes, with none of that “ugly” fear of God stuff involved.
SO Bert can continue to preach his progressive chicken gospel, and CFA can metaphorically burn their own golden goose. Because this goose is no longer bringing any gold. And I know a lot of other Christians are taking the same stance.
They are now a cleaner Popeyes, but in a ethical way, much worse, because they abandoned their principles for more market share, so Popeyes is actually *better* in my eyes. At least Popeyes, or Bojangles, didn’t claim to be something better than they were, only to turn around & become something much worse, supporting charities who long ago sold their soul to someone other than God.
It’s all about the pretense! FOlks like Bert will never understand the entire point of the conversation, and people like Bert will continue to cave to progressives.
Such is life! Go, be the best progressive chicken eater you can be, Bert! GO now! The world is your Filet! Many hungry progressive charities await your donation via CFA. They NEED YOU!!!!!
We’ll see if they decide to open on Sundays. That would be a highly obvious move from “honor the sabbath day”, but would increase sales opportunities by 16%. Any bets?
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